Immortal Struggle
by Danny vs A Month
Summary: John is just like anyone else. Stutter, uncoordinated, horrible at math. At least, until he hears music. Oh, and he may or may not be an immortal vampire. When everyone's favorite Death Dealer is against the entire world, John has a much simpler goal. Keep those around him alive. Plays through movies. Maybe OCXErika some SeleneXMichael
1. Chapter 1

I do not own Underworld or any original characters.

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Hunting

Rain pelted against the tower around him. He smiled, closing his eyes and turning his face to the heavens. John had always liked the rain. It was calming. Even in a hurricane. Though, calming as it was, it wasn't enough of a distraction for his tastes. He opened his eyes again, looking down at the street again, almost instantly spotting the targets. A large black man, built like he should be a defensive lineman, wearing a brown trench coat, and a white one, well built but tiny in comparison to his larger black companion, wearing a dark jacket and with his wet hair slicked back. He looked up at the tower across from himself, at the woman crouched on the railing there. She nodded to him and they looked to the side where a second man was taking photos of the targets. After a moment, he put the camera away and nodded to the woman. Then, as one, they all dropped off the towers. As they fell, the man heard his black leather coat flapping in the wind. underneath it, his black Tee-shirt and custom-tailored jeans got soaked in the water. He grimaced. That was always his least favorite part of being in the rain.

He landed lightly in a back alley, fixing his coat before stepping out and joining a crowd, quickly working his way through it to the subway tunnel where the targets had just gone in. He slipped inside, pulling out a set of headphones once he was out of the rain, putting one earbud in on the right side and tucking the other securely in his collar. Then, he pushed play, Linkin Park beginning to fill his right ear. Once that was done, he walked calmly through the crowd, pushing lightly past them until he was in the subway station. Just as he arrived, the black man spun, staring at the man that had been taking pictures of the targets, eyes narrowing instantly.

"Bloods!" the man shouted, pulling a pair of Uzis from his coat and opening fire on the man.

John ducked behind one of the support pillars, bobbing his head in time with his music as he drew a Walther p99 from inside his coat. Then, he stepped out, turning and firing at the black man. One of the bullets grazed his arm and the man ducked into cover just as the other man stepped out off to the side with a Desert Eagle, firing at John's female teammate. John and she ducked into cover just as several bullets hit the other male. He collapsed, groaning as ultraviolet light began to shine from inside of him, burning him to ash from inside. John shook his head before stepping back out and putting two bullets in the white target's chest then one in his shoulder. He staggered back then turned, to flee, firing back at John wildly, hitting a cowering woman in the shoulder as he did. She collapsed to the floor and a man nearby hurried over to her, putting pressure on the wound, clearly a doctor.

John's other final teammate, who had been standing rear guard at the stairs, hurried into the subway station finally, firing his own P99 at the black man, making him retreat into the subway car before firing through a window at John's teammate. John swung his gun around firing at the man and he took cover, his firing stopping, allowing John's teammate to fire at him as well. John stopped, letting his teammate handle it, and went after the other, following closely behind his female teammate.

"How'd he get away from you Selene?" John asked. "I thought you never miss."

"Don't start," Selene snapped.

They had gotten out of the subway on the far side then taken the tunnel to a corner where the target had run. They rounded the target at a sprint but slowed to a stop as they reached a dead end. The only way to go was a grate on the floor. John walked over, lifting the grate out of the way then checking his mag and huffing, putting it back in and tucking his p99 into his coat, pulling out a Type 54 Black Star. He dropped into the tunnel and instantly dropped as bullets flew over his head. Then, he spun, putting two shots into the target's chest yet again before one hit between his eyes and he dropped. John stood, keeping his pistol on the man as he walked over and stopped over him. He put a second bullet in the man's brain to be sure before putting his pistol away as Selene dropped in, walking over to stand next to him. He picked up the target's Desert Eagle and pulled out the mag, staring at the bullets that glowed slightly with UV light, not enough to burn them but enough to tell them their purpose. He put the round back in just as something big landed behind them. Selene spun, hurling several silver disks that extended blades as they flew, stabbing the werewolf behind them in the chest and making it stagger backward and fall to the ground. The thing was still very much alive, however. John drew his Type 54 again but the werewolf leapt up through the hole and was gone.

"Got away," John reported, walking back to Selene. "Come on. These tunnels let out somewhere, and it's safer than walking back that way where the cops are looking for us.

Selene nodded and they started down the tunnel, finding a gate and kicking it open then stopping a little ways further as the sound of roars and growls reached their ears from a tunnel further on. Before they could investigate, however, the door they had come through burst open. They both took off running, soon losing their pursuer in the maze of tunnels before finding a gate out into the rain. They walked through it and to their waiting car, getting in and heading back to their mansion, where the others were waiting.

Once back, Selene and John instantly hurried through the house to the armory where John set the pistol on the desk.

"We have a serious problem," Selene said.

"They're ultraviolet rounds," John said. "Burned Rigel to a crisp. Nathaniel might still be out there, but I'd wager he got taken out by the other Lycan."

"You don't know that!" Selene snapped.

"Use your head, Selene," John said. "He went after the big one, then the big one went after us."

"What'd you find?" a self-glorified and over-important voice all but demanded from behind them.

They turned to find Kraven, leader of their vampire coven standing behind them with his men.

"UV rounds," Kahn, the weapons master, stated, looking at a round he was holding in a pair of tweezers. "Probably military, something they stole. Maybe some sort of high-tech tracer round."

"Never heard of a tracer round that uses UV light," John said. "I'd wager it's exactly what it seems, a round designed with us in mind."

"You expect me to believe that a bunch of mangy animals created a round specifically designed to kill vampires?" Kraven snarled.

"Maybe not the Lycans directly, but someone did, yes," John said. "They may have had help from an exiled vampire, or maybe they're more than mangy beast. Either way, this is a problem."

He glanced past Kraven at the blonde vampire who had her eyes practically glued to his back. She looked at him and he nodded.

"Erika," John greeted.

"John," Erika said before returning to staring at Kraven.

"We need to gather the Death Dealers and head back down there in force," Selene said.

"Absolutely not, not for a random incursion," Kraven said. "The Awakening is only a few days away and this house in in a state of unrest as it is."

"Random?" Selene scoffed. "They opened fire on us in full view of the public."

"And then in the tunnels we heard Lycans," John said. "Dozens at least. Maybe hundreds."

"How do you know?" Kraven asked.

"We know what a Lycan sounds like and we could hear them having dog fights," John said.

"Did you see them?" Kraven asked.

"No," John said. "But when was the last time you were near Lycans? For the last six hundred years, you've been cooped up in the house playing king. You do remember that you're not in charge, right?"

"No, I'm just holding the seat for another few hundred years until Viktor wakes up," Kraven said. "But until then, I'm in charge. And I say we're not sending our Death Dealers into those tunnels on mere speculation."

"He's right," Kahn said. "There hasn't been a den of that magnitude for centuries. Not since the days of Lucien."

"I know that Kahn," Selene snapped. "But I'd still feel better if you'd send a team down there to prove me wrong."

Kahn looked to Kraven who sighed.

"Fine," Kraven groaned. "Have your men tighten things up. Soren will lead a team to search the tunnels."

"Absolutely not!" Selene snapped instantly. "I'll lead the team myself!"

"No!" Kraven snapped. "Soren will lead the team."

"Viktor would believe me," Selene snarled as she stormed off.

"I'd never dream of treating you like that," Erika said, walking over to stand in front of Kraven.

"Of course you wouldn't," Kraven said. "Now run along and make sure she's dressed and ready for the arrival of her guests."

Erika hesitated a moment before nodding and walking away. John sighed, putting his pistols on the table before following, catching up quickly.

"You try too hard," John said. "Making it obvious won't win Kraven over."

"Shut up John," Erika snapped.

"Just saying," John said. "He's after Selene for the social power it will give him."

"I said shut up!" Erika snapped, turning to him. "What would you understand about unrequited love anyway? You're just a hot-headed Jock who think's he's tough shit because he can shoot a gun when in reality you're nothing more than a stuttering idiot!"

She grabbed his headphones, ripping them away from him, pulling the one still playing into his right ear out and he winced as she walked away. He put the headphone back in and sighed.

"I'd understand more than you know, Erika," John sighed. "Eh, maybe next century I'll be able to talk without music playing."

He walked back the way he had come and then into the training room to practice shooting and martial arts.

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	2. Chapter 2

I do not own Underworld or any of the characters.

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Michael

John pushed the door open, tugging lightly at his collar, his hand trembling. Soft music drifted through the air, nearly making him cringe. He looked around at the vampires present. Both those that always lived in the house and now a new group from a coven run by Amelia, the current ruling vampire. So many new faces, each instantly memorized. Finally he spotted Erika, right by Kraven's side as always. And Selene was not present. He made his way over to Erika, admiring her dress as he did.

"Y-Y-Y-You l-l-look b-b-b-b-"

"Jesus, if you can't talk like a normal person just go away," Kraven snapped.

Erika glanced at him then followed John to the refreshments table where blood was being poured into glasses.

"What was it you were trying to say?" Erika asked.

"Y-Y-You l-l-look b-b-beautiful, E-E-E-E-E-"

"Thank you," she interrupted, sparing him from having to try and force her name out. "Any improvement?"

"N-N-N-None," John stuttered, trying to use both hands to lift his drink to his lips without spilling it, then deciding not to ruin his tux and putting it back down, nearly tipping it over.

"Why don't you have your music?" Erika asked.

"K-K-K-K-K-Kraven," John stuttered.

"I see," Erika nodded. "Listen, I'm sorry about earlier. I was wrong to say those things, and I was wrong to use your condition as an insult."

"D-D-D-Don't w-w-worry," John stuttered.

Erika smiled slightly before holding her glass out to him.

"Thirsty?" she asked.

"N-N-Not e-e-e-enough to t-t-t-try," John said.

Erika nodded and glanced at the vampire pouring drinks who poured some into a bottle and put a straw in it for him. It wasn't the first time, so he knew what to do. Erika took the bottle and held it out to John who smiled and accepted it.

"Th-Th-Thanks," John stuttered.

"I should go and check on Selene," Erika said. "Looks like the speech is going to be soon."

John nodded and Erika left. John raised the bottle, struggling to get the straw to stop spinning around and around the bottle from his hand trembling before taking a drink and lowering the bottle, walking to a seat and sitting down, setting the bottle down carefully and sighing. After a moment, the vampire in charge of Amelia's group began to give a speech about how the two groups would soon be a single coven once Amelia arrived. As he was speaking, Erika returned, whispering something to Kraven who almost instantly stood and left. Then, John heard a car leaving and smirked. Selene was gone. Kraven was going to be furious. And that, unfortunately, meant Erika would not be leaving his side.

Sure enough, Kraven returned a couple of minutes later, retaking his seat and sending a death glare at John. Finally, the speech ended and people began to mingle again. As soon as it did, John put in his head phones, playing Avenged Sevenfold. Almost instantly, Kraven grabbed John by the arm and pulled him off to one side, away from the guests.

"Where did she go?" Kraven snarled.

"How should I know?" John asked. "I spent twenty minutes trying to say four things to Erika."

"Exactly," Kraven snarled. "What better way to distract someone than to spend twenty minutes stuttering out four things like a fucking idiot?"

"Hey, I never thought of that," John grinned. "That's not a bad idea. I'll have to remember that."

Kraven's eyes widened slightly before he growled threateningly and narrowed his eyes at John.

"If I find out you had anything to do with her sneaking out, I'll tear your throat out," Kraven snarled.

"I'm not afraid of a politician," John said. "There's a reason you're not a Death Dealer, and it has nothing to do with you being in charge."

Kraven snarled then turned, stalking away, Erika moving to meet him only for him to shove her away. She glanced at John disapprovingly but then followed after Kraven. John sighed, pulling his earbud out and returning to his seat and picking up his bottle, struggling to drink. As he did, he saw several of the male vampires from his group point the females from the guest group in his direction and couldn't help but smirk. As usual, they were all trying to hook him up because he was the only one besides Selene and Erika to not be sleeping with someone. Erika was too busy chasing after Kraven, Selene was too busy obsessing over killing Lycans, and John simply didn't want meaningless sex. After about ten minutes, Kahn arrived with a pair on his arms.

"And this, ladies, is John," Kahn said. "He's single but he's too stubborn to admit he's lonely. And no girl is willing to put in enough effort to win him over."

John snorted in amusement, shaking his head and looking up at them as one detached herself from Kahn.

"Well, he's certainly good-looking enough," she smiled, seating herself beside him.

John lifted one earbud in and gave Kahn a knowing and slightly annoyed look.

"What Kahn forgets to mention is that I'm waiting for someone, and that without listening to a certain kind of music, I shake like I have parkinson's and stutter," John said.

"That's alright," the woman smiled. "I don't mind playing music. And you can pretend I'm whoever you want me to be."

John blinked in surprise, looking up at Kahn who raised his eyebrows. Then, John shook his head, sighing, and stood.

"Thanks for the offer, but I'll pass," John said.

"Do you know who I am?" the woman asked.

"No, and I don't care to," John said just as he heard the gate close. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got to go."

He made his way up to Selene's room, closing the door and leaning against it, sipping at his bottle as he waited. Sure enough, about a minute later Selene climbed in through the window, except that she had a human with her.

"Taking boys home now?" John asked, Selene jumping and looking over at him before relaxing.

"The Lycans we fought were after him," Selene said, setting him on the couch. "They wanted him for something other than food."

"I see," John nodded. "Go change. I'll look after him."

Selene nodded and turned, walking away into the bathroom, taking a nice leather shirt and pants with her. John knelt beside the man, pulling his earbud out and sniffing. Two things reached his nose. Blood, and wet dog. He grimaced, wrinkling his nose and putting the earbud back in pulling the man's shirt down over his shoulder and letting out a low whistle.

"Hey Selene, you're new boyfriend's a dog," John said.

"You know, I sometimes forget how good your sense of smell is," Selene said, stepping out of the bathroom and dropping her bloody and ripped clothes in the laundry basket.

"Well look at you," John grinned. "You can look civilized."

"You're one to talk," Selene smirked. "Don't tell anyone, alright?"

"Sure," John said. "You know, everyone else will be able to smell his blood, right?"

Selene nodded and John stretched, yawning. He held his bottle out to Selene and she accepted it, drinking some.

"Thank you," Selene said. "So, how's the party?"

"Boring," John sighed. "And I'm stuck in this thing. Really the only good thing about it was seeing her in that dress."

Selene snorted and shook her head.

"You really are determined," Selene said.

"It's not easy," John shrugged.

Selene nodded, rolling her eyes, then sat down beside Michael to wait. John sat down in the chair at her desk, spinning slowly as Selene described who the human, Michael Corvin, was and what had happened when she went to find him. Once she was done, John put his other earbud in. After almost two hours, Michael finally awoke, gasping for breath, eyes wide. John pulled an earbud out, turning to him as Michael began to sit up.

"Lay still," Selene said, pushing Michael back down. "Your skull's taken a good knock. You've been unconscious for a while. Do you have any idea why those men were after you?"

"Where am I?" Michael asked.

"You're safe," Selene said. "I'm Selene. This is John."

John lifted a hand in greeting, Michael staring at him. Then, Michael's eyes drifted closed again. Just then, the door opened and Erika walked in, stopping as she spotted Michael.

"So for once the rumors were true," Erika said. "The whole house has been absolutely buzzing about your new pet. Oh God, you're going to try to turn him aren't you?"

"Of course not," Selene said.

"Then why did you bring him here?" Erika asked.

"He saved my life," Selene said. "Why are you here?"

"Kraven sent me," Erika said. "He wants to see you, now."

Selene sighed, looking to John, who nodded. Then, she walked out of the room. Once she was out, Erika walked over to the couch, looking down at Michael. John walked over as she reached for his shoulder, catching her wrist.

"He got banged up in a crash," John said.

Erika narrowed her eyes at him before looking down at Michael just as Michael's eyes opened. Erika cocked her head at him, and Michael swallowed hard. Then, Michael looked around, seeing the bottle of blood and John sighed.

"Shit," John sighed. "You weren't supposed to see that."

Then, Michael was on his feet, sprinting to the window. He looked back at them and Erika grinned, exposing her fangs. Then, Michael jumped out the window just as the door burst open, Kraven storming in followed by Selene. Kraven stalked to the window, looking out as Michael climbed the gate, narrowly escaping the guard dogs. kraven turned to Erika, snarling.

"Leave us!" Kraven snarled.

Erika turned, hurrying out of the room. Selene turned to John.

"You let him leave?" Selene asked.

"He saw the blood and I smelled Kraven coming," John said. "I figured you wouldn't want Kraven to find me pinning him to the wall."

Selene sighed, turning to Kraven just as Kraven backhanded her. Then, he stormed out of the room.

"Huh," John smirked. "Big man hitting the girl and not me. Though, given who you are, he's got balls to hit you."

Selene nodded and stormed past him. He sighed, picking up his blood and taking a sip, following her through the mansion to the basement where they had a shooting range set up using busts from the mansion as targets. The busts were set up twenty five yards away and would rise up out of a raised platform to be shot then sink down and get replaced. Selene grabbed her pistol, raising a target and opening fire, emptying her magazine into the bust, not missing a single shot. John drew his own pistol, shooting the bust and putting a smiley face into its head.

"Show off," Selene said. "Try that without your music."

John stuck his tongue out as Kahn walked over, stopping beside Selene.

"I sure hope you never get pissed off at me," Kahn said. "Hold on."

He loaded a pistol and held it out to her.

"Check this out," Kahn said, Selene taking it as he raised a new target. "Go ahead, squeeze off a few."

Selene fired several into the target before stopping, watching as a thick silver metal leaked out of the bust.

"Eject the mag," Kahn said.

She did so and she and John stared at the rounds. Clear projectile filled with the same silver liquid.

"You've copied the Lycan rounds," Selene said. "Silver nitrate."

"A lethal dose," Kahn said.

"Really?" John blinked. "Suppose I can have a couple of mags of those?"

"Sure," Kahn said, holding them out. "I haven't mass produced them yet, but I will soon."

"Tell me Kahn," Selene said after a moment. "Do you believe Lucien died as they say he did?"

"Kraven been telling war stories again?" Kahn asked.

"Well that's just it," Selene said. "It's nothing but an ancient story. His story. Not a shred of proof he killed Lucien, only his word."

"I've never underestimated Kraven's lust for advancement, but Viktor believed him and that's all that matters," Kahn said. "Now where are you going with this anyway?"

"Nowhere," Selene said, sighting in again.

"Then maybe I will," John said, firing a few basic silver rounds into the bust. "Kraven's only ever been a politician, pampered and weak. He has no real skills with a blade, his aim is dull, and his reflexes are slow. He could put a human down no problem, of course, and lesser Lycans wouldn't be much of a challenge either. But let's put it this way. Selene has trouble with more advanced and more powerful Lycans. If she fought, let's say, five of Lucien's inner circle from back in the day, she'd probably lose. Lucien was so strong that he kept an entire army in check, and with wolves, it's because the alpha can't be beat by the others. So, let's say Selene fought Kraven. Who would win?"

"Selene, hands down," Kahn said.

"And if, going by my earlier math, Selene were to fight Lucien?" John asked.

"By your math, Lucien would probably win," Kahn said, beginning to understand.

"Exactly," John said. "So then how, in God's name, did someone that Selene would mop the floor with, defeat Lucien?"

Kahn was silent for several seconds.

"ViktorViktor believed him," Kahn reiterated. "So that means he won. Maybe he outsmarted him."

"Lucien once defeated Viktor in battle," John said, Kahn falling silent.

"If Viktor believed Kraven killed Lucien, then he did," Kahn decided.

"And if he's wrong, we're about to go to war without drawing our weapons," John said. "And with our leader pointing us in the wrong direction."

Kahn stared at him before turning and walking away. John turned to Selene.

"Through the library, there's a locked door," John said. "Behind said door, there's a book in a glass display. It's ancient, massive, and has fancy metal accents on the corners and the center with clasps to keep it closed. Inside is everything we know about the war, Lucien, and the final battle. It also, coincidentally, has a picture of the Lycan leader. However, the picture is burned and missing part of him. If one were to, oh I don't know, find the book and look at what's left of the picture, one might see something one isn't supposed to see."

"Good to know," Selene said. "I'll be sure to not kick that locked door open and steal that book."

John nodded, collecting his guns and bullets and leaving the room. He made his way up toward his room only to find Erika waiting.

"He's been bitten," Erika said. "That's why you let him escape."

"Yeah," John said.

"Does she know?" Erika asked.

"Yes," John said. "But he hasn't turned yet. Probably doesn't even know what he is. Until he turns, the covenant forbids nothing."

"Fair enough," Erika said. "Kraven's going to be furious."

"Don't tell him," John said.

"Why?" Erika asked.

"Trust me," John said. "It's better if he never knows."

Erika stared at him for a moment, unsure, before nodding slowly.

"Alright," Erika sighed. "I won't tell him. But you owe me."

"Name your price," John said.

"Teach me to fight," Erika said. "Teach me to be something other than..."

"Other than a house maid turned by Kraven on a whim?" John guessed. "You already are more than that. But sure. If you want to learn to fight, I'll be happy to teach you. Your first task, invest in pants. No dresses allowed."

Erika looked down at her dress then up at him before sighing and nodding. John walked past her into his room, closing the door and sitting in the window, staring out of it. If he was right, Michael would be back to see Selene. Probably within a couple of hours. And Erika would have told Kraven about his being infected within thirty minutes, assuming she could find Selene to make sure Selene knew first. John sighed. It was shaping up to be a very interesting time.

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	3. Chapter 3

I do not own Underworld or any of the characters.

* * *

Truth

John heard the car pull in and put his earbud in, putting his pistol and mags away and hurrying out of his room and toward the main hall. As he was passing Kraven's room, it opened and Erika stepped out, angry and pulling her shirt down. John froze. She looked toward him, eyes widening slightly.

"Uh...I..."

"Don't," John said. "I don't care. And since I know you, and I know you told him Michael was bitten, I guess you won't have to worry about wearing pants."

He hurried past her, making it to the main hall just as Kraven vanished into a side hallway. He followed, catching up to Kraven in the control room outside the chamber where the elders slumbered. The moment he was in, Kraven spun, aiming at him.

"Oh don't waste the ammo," John said. "She'll tell Viktor you didn't kill Lucien, Lucien will demand proof, and then you will be cleared of suspicion. If you shoot me, your good name goes out the window now rather than later."

"What do you want?" Kraven asked.

"To watch, obviously," John said.

"Fine," Kraven said. "Since you have a point and already know what she's going to say."

John walked over, stopping beside the screen.

"So, how was she?" John asked.

"What, the pass time?" Kraven snorted. "Nothing special."

John glanced at him, eyes narrowed, then looked back to the screen. Just as he did, Kraven's phone rang. He picked it up, holding it to his ear.

"Yeah?" Kraven asked then being silent for a moment. "There's been a little complication."

John smirked knowingly, watching the screen as Viktor scolded Selene for breaking the chain and waking him a century early. He was paying no attention to her argument that she had shot Lucien. Only that she had woken him early and her memories, which were transferred through blood, were confused and unorganized due to her not being an elder. Then, as soon as she said "Michael" Viktor cut her off, referring to him as "the Lycan."

"Fine," Kraven said, hanging up.

"So how's Lucien?" John asked.

"It was Soren," Kraven lied.

"Please, give me the chance to find you proof," Selene pleaded.

"I will leave it to Kraven to collect the proof," Viktor said. "If there is any."

"Told you," John said. "You're in the clear. Now. I'm going to ask only one thing for my silence."

"And that is?" Kraven asked.

"Erika," John said. "You have to accept her as your mate, and treat her like you care, even if it's an act. By all means, chase after Selene, but don't shut Erika out anymore."

"Why do you care how I treat..." Kraven grinned wickedly. "Oh. How cute. Selene and her Lycan and you and your house maid. Isn't that sweet. Fine. If that's all you care about, then we'll see if you're trust worthy. I'll pretend she's anything more than a pass time. But if I hear that you so much as breathed a word of this, she dies."

"Deal," John said. "Enjoy."

And with that, he turned and left. As he walked, he punched the wall, shattering it before making his way down to the martial arts room, grabbing two other Death Dealers on the way. About fifteen minutes later, he dropped the two Death Dealers, both bruised and complaining, on a set of couches in the main hall and walked to the armory where Kahn was just locking up the weapons.

"Shouldn't you be getting ready to go?" John asked.

"Soren and his team went," Kahn said.

"But that's your job," John said.

"That's what I said," Kahn said.

John's eyes widened slightly before he snarled.

"That snake," John said. "Kahn, I need the bike."

Kahn tossed him the keys to his bike and John walked away, slamming a mag of silver nitrate rounds into his pistol. Then, he walked to the garage, climbing on the bike and revving the engine before speeding off. He skidded to a stop at the train station, dropping the bike without the kick stand and sprinting to the train. The windows were broken and there was blood everywhere. He stepped onto the train, guns out, and opened fire. There were a dozen or so Lycans, all but one in their fully transformed state. He placed a silver nitrate bullet in each of their brains, starting with the one holding Amelia down. Then, once he was done, he sniffed. There was one more, this one in his human form and hiding. He stepped into view, kicking the Lycan's pistol away and aimed at him.

That was a bad move because the moment he did, the Lycan smashed the pistol upward, the bullet crashing into the ceiling. Then, the Lycan lunged, ramming his shoulder into John's abdomen, smashing him through a window, throwing him out of the train and stripping him of his pistols, hurling them aside. John flipped, landing on his feet and looking up at the train as the Lycan dropped out of the window, tossing his pistol away and pulling his brown leather jacket off, dropping it.

"You're pretty different from the others," John said. "You're stronger. What's your name?"

"Raze," the Lycan said, his voice deeper than John thought possible. "Your timing is a little off. If you had been just a little later, you could have lived."

"But then Amelia would die," John said. "Sorry Raze. I'll have to kill you now."

"There's a reason Lucien has counted me as his right hand since the beginning," Raze said. "You can't defeat me."

"We'll see," John smiled, drawing a pair of silver knives, the left one a basic survival knife about nine inches long, and the other a knuckle duster trench knife in reverse grip with a skull pommel and an eight inch blade.

Raze charged, knocking John's left hand aside when he stabbed at him, then slammed his fist into John's face, throwing him backward. John flipped, landing on his feet and ducking under Raze's fist, slashing him across the chest with his knife. Raze staggered backward, grunting in pain before stepping forward, catching John's left arm and twisting, making him drop the knife. John flipped, catching Raze's head between his thighs then flipping to the ground, slamming Raze down before rolling away from him. Raze stood, growling, and John smirked, reaching into his coat and pulling out a silver set of knuckles. Raze stepped forward, and John punched him with a left hook, then drove the blade of his knife into Raze's stomach. Raze grunted, smashing downward on John's hand, snapping the blade then smashed his forearm into John, making him stagger backward. John stopped, watching as Raze ripped the blade out and threw it away.

"You really are a tough one," John smirked. "Fine. Time to stop playing around."

Raze charged, leaning forward and John jumped, Raze catching him around the waist. John grunted as the wind was knocked out of him before slamming his knee into Raze's chest and abdomen, again and again. Finally, Raze rammed him into the wall of a building, switching a hand to his throat and catching his left wrist with the other. He drove the half inch of blade that remained on his right set of knuckles into Raze's arm, making him drop him before stepping forward, slamming a right haymaker into his jaw. Raze staggered to the side then spun, ducking under a left hook. As he stood, John continued to spin, slamming a windmill kick into his jaw. Raze staggered to the side and into a right hook from John. He staggered backward then ducked to the side away from a left jab. John spun, smashing a right elbow into Raze's solar plexus. Raze grunted, staggering backward before catching a right roundhouse kick.

John jumped just as Raze moved to sweep his leg out from under him. He wrapped his free leg around Raze's waist, spinning and throwing Raze to the ground with himself on top of him. He quickly slammed his right fist into Raze's face before Raze grabbed him by the shirt, slamming their foreheads together before hurling him upward and off. He rolled over, climbing to his feet just in time to sweep a punch aside and grab John by the front of his collar and grab his belt, lifting him over his head and hurling him at the train. He crashed into the train between windows, crashing to the ground as Raze charged. He grunted in effort, shoving himself up and jumping, grabbing a window and slipping himself through.

Raze crashed into the train, barely missing him, and Michael dropped to the floor, grabbing a vampire's corpse by the front of his shirt, yanking the combat knife out of its sheath on his belt then pushed himself up, hurrying to Amelia, who had pushed herself up to sit against the wall, deep gashes in her shoulder and cheek.

"Lady Amelia," John said. "Are you alright?"

She nodded just as the door was ripped completely off the train. John spun, seeing Raze standing in the hallway, filling it and with his teeth sharpened and his fingernails as claws. John charged and Raze slashed. Before he could hit John, however, John jumped, stepping off of Raze's shoulder and flipping, stabbing him in the shoulder to catch himself then ripping the knife out as he landed, slashing the backs of his knees and severing the nerves. Raze crumpled to the ground and John flipped over him, using his left foot to pin Raze's right hand to the side of a seat and slashing the inside of his elbow to the bone as his used his right forearm to block Raze's right arm. Raze roared in rage, reaching forward to bite John only for John's left knee to crash into his temple and John slashed Raze's other inner elbow before push kicking him, leaving him sprawled on his back, snarling. Then, John drove the knife into Raze's abdomen, Raze's claws and teeth sinking back into place.

"There," John sighed. "That should keep you docile for a minute. Now, you're going to do a little explaining. You said you've been Lucien's right hand since the beginning of the war, so you're going to tell me how it started, and you're going to tell me what the Lycans want."

Raze glared at him before staring at the ceiling.

"Alright," Raze said. "Firstly, Lucien's alive. I know you've all been lead to believe he was dead, but that was only what we wanted you to believe."

"I know that," John said. "The war. How did it start?"

"In the beginning, werewolves bitten by William, the original, were nothing more than mindless beasts, incapable of reclaiming their human forms," Raze said. "At least, as Lucien has told me. I was turned later. For decades, the Vampires spent each and ever night at war against William and his horde. Didn't you?"

John glanced at Amelia, who hesitated but nodded.

"However, after a time, the Vampire Elders were able to seal William away," Raze continued. "The werewolves they had been hunting began to become less organized, more mindless creatures than anything. And then, one day, a cild was born from captive werewolves. A child with the power to transform at will. One who retained his humanity after transforming. Lucien. But he was still a werewolf. So he was made a slave. As an experiment, he was allowed to turn a human into one, to see what would happen. And that human possessed the same power as Lucien, though he was weaker. And when he was also allowed to turn someone, they too possessed the Lucien's abilities. And then, the Vampire Elders had a though. These slaves, who could be a human during the day, and stand in the sun, could guard their masters during the day, while the Vampires slept."

John glanced at Amelia who nodded.

"They called this new breed of werewolves Lycans," Raze said. "For a time, it worked. The Vampire Elders began to leapfrog through time, as they do now, and Lucien became Viktor's personal slave. Viktor had him trained to fight by the best he had. Lucien was the fastest, the strongest, and the most loyal of all of us. However, that power drew the attention of Viktor's daughter, Sonja. As did his loyalty. Eventually, the two fell in love. They kept their love secret, as it was, and still is, forbidden for a Vampire to give a Lycan anything except death. However, one day, Sonja was patrolling and was set upon by a pack of lesser werewolves. She could not kill them all, or escape, so Lucien went up to the wall, and used a Vampire's crossbow to kill the werewolves in pursuit of her.

"He saved her life. And for it, he was whipped. But he did not hate the Vampires for it. He continued to be loyal. H continued to serve as a blacksmith and Viktor's personal slave. Then, one day, a human noble was to be escorted to see Viktor, to request that he be forgiven for not providing as much produce as he normally would, on account of werewolf attacks. I was among that noble's slaves. On the way there, we were attacked by a very large horde of werewolves. Viktor's Death Dealers arrived to aid us, with Sonja at their head, but there were too many. I attempted to aid the Death Dealers, and When Lucien arrived he saw my actions and respected me for them. On that day, I witnessed the mindless monsters the Vampires had been fighting show intelligence. Lucien transformed and the werwolves followed his commands. They stopped their attack, and retreated. Then, Lucien was apprehended and punished. He was whipped severely and locked away. The nobleman's slaves and I were all turned into Lycans, and locked away with him.

"And yet, still Lucien remained loyal. Until Sonja informed him that he was to be executed for transforming. He escaped, freeing us all and we fled. However, only a handful of us escaped, compared to the countless that were locked away. The rest were either trapped or killed. Lucien returned, in order to smuggle Sonja out of the city. But it was a trap. Viktor captured him, and Sonja, in an attempt to save his life, revealed that she was carrying Lucien's child. A hybrid of Vampire and Lycan blood. The first of its kind. But Viktor saw it as an abomination. So much so, that he had Lucien whipped, then forced him to watch as Sonja was sentenced to execution by sunlight. Viktor feared Lucien's child, feared a mixing of the bloodlines so much, that he killed his own daughter to prevent it.

"Lucien escaped, and attempted to flee the city, but was captured again. However, as he was captured, an army of lesser werewolves he had raised, as well as we Lycan who had escaped returned to aid him. It was a violent and bloody battle. At first, we had the advantage of numbers and surprise. However, just as I reached Lucien, and removed the silver arrows from his body, Viktor's Death Dealers arrived with Viktor himself at their head. Lucien engaged Viktor in battle, and eventually defeated him. We won that battle, and escaped into the wilderness with our brothers. However, Viktor survived and was laid to rest, the next Elder taking their turn."

John nodded slowly, looking to Amelia who nodded.

"What he says is what I received when Viktor's blood awakened me," Amelia said. "At least, parts of it. I only got Viktor's point of view."

John nodded.

"What does Lucien want?" John asked. "Why does he want Michael Corvin? And why do I get the feeling that this attack wasn't about killing Amelia?"

"Because it wasn't," Raze said. "As for Michael Corvin, it's for the Corvinus strain. The original virus carried by Alexander Corvinus. He passed it on to his three sons. One, Marcus, was bitten by a bat and became the first Vampire. One, William, was bitten by a wolf and became the first werewolf. And one, remained pure. He passed the original, untainted strain, down through his descendents. Lucien needs the pure strain. If he could use any of the strains, he would have had Kraven draw some of Marcus' blood. Michael Corvin is the last descendent of Alexander Corvinus. It must be his blood."

"You're trying to create a hybrid," John guessed.

"Yes," Raze said. "Vampire and werewolf blood cannot combine. Not unless one of them is first combined with the original strain. And then, the strength of the hybrid is dependent on the source of the blood. As well as the method of combination. For example, according to that scientist we have working to combine the bloods, Lucien and Sonja's child would have been unrivaled by anything. No matter what. If the bloods were combined inside of one already tainted, the sources of the blood would determine the strength. Say, for example, the blood of the strongest Lycan, were to be combined with the blood of an elder, for example Amelia, the result would be unmatched by anything short of a natural creation."

"I see," John nodded. "That's why you targeted Amelia. How much blood would you need?"

"A syringe, at least," Raze said.

"Amelia?" John asked.

"You're going to help them?" Amelia asked, narrowing her eyes.

"I'm going to keep him from bleeding you dry," John said.

He picked up the syringe Raze had dropped when they began their fight and pushed it into Amelia's arm.

"Trust me," John said. "After this, go into hiding. I'll head back to Viktor, who is currently awake, and report you killed."

"Why?" Raze asked.

"Because then he'll see that Kraven is a traitor," John said. "Raze, after you deliver this, disappear. I respect you. You're powerful and loyal. It'd be a shame for you to die."

He turned to Raze as Raze stood and handed him the syringe.

"Who's side are you on?" Raze asked.

"I'm not really sure anymore?" John said. "I want this war to end. That can't happen with Viktor alive. If a hybrid Lucien can kill Viktor, then a hybrid Lucien is exactly what we need. Afterward, Amelia can call for a truce, being the ruling elder, and end all of this."

He looked to Amelia who nodded slowly.

"You may be right," Amelia said. "We'll see how it plays out."

John nodded, looking to Raze, who also nodded.

"Kill the scientist," Raze said. "And kill Kraven."

"And Soren's entire team," John nodded, holding up a mag filled with UV rounds. "One for each."

Raze nodded and left and John helped Amelia off the train after retrieving his pistols. Then, he helped her to Kahn's bike, pulling a blood packet out of the side and handing it to her before righting the bike.

"Good luck," John said. "You'll know when to come out of hiding."

Amelia nodded and began to drink as John sped off, returning to the mansion, first finding Erika and telling her to go to the shooting range to wait for him to train her, then making his way into the chamber where Viktor was staring at a Lycan Selene had dragged into the room.

"Just in time," Selene said. "He was just about to explain the Lycans' plans."

"No need," John said.

"Why not?" Viktor asked.

"Because I can," John said. "They want to create a Hybrid, using Michael Corvin's blood as the last living descendent of Alexander Corvinus. I only know this, because I had a bad feeling when, at the last second, the infinitely wise Kraven decided to replace Kahn's team as Amelia's escorts with Soren's team. So, I left to see what was up, and low and behold, Amelia's personal guard had been slaughtered. Soren's team had signaled that it was safe, only to leave when the Lycans attacked once Amelia's guard had let their guard down. I was unable to save her, but I was able to kill all of the Lycans attacking her. All but one. I disabled him, and...persuaded, him to tell me what he knew. He told me a lot. However, he used the time it took him to talk to regenerate, then caught me by surprise and escaped with a syringe of Amelia's blood. Now that I assume they've captured Michael, they have everything they need. We need to go after them. Now."

"What proof do you have that you're not lying?" Viktor asked.

"Doc?" John asked, looking to the Lycan.

"It's true," the Lycan said. "We needed a descendent of Corvinus."

"There is a child of Corvinus there!" Viktor shouted, pointing at Marcus. "Not ten feet from you!"

"Marcus was already a Vampire," the Lycan said. "We needed a pure source. Michael. And now that we have him and Amelia's blood, Lucien will become the first of a whole new race. The strengths of both. The weaknesses of neither."

"Lucien is dead," Viktor snarled.

"According to whom?" the Lycan asked.

All eyes turned to the door where Kraven had been and saw that he had left. Viktor growled in rage before slashing the Lycan across the face with his sharpened fingernails, killing him instantly.

"I can assure you, my child," Viktor said, turning to Selene. "Kraven will be dealt with."

"Allow me," John said. "Selene and I can show you where we believe the Lycans are. And then while you all deal with them, I will personally kill Kraven and bring you his head."

"Very well," Viktor nodded. "Go."

John nodded and turned, hurrying out of the room. He wanted his knife fixed, and he needed to get Erika somewhere safe. He was playing a dangerous game, but if everything played out, it would be safe, for everyone.

* * *

Read and review. Didn't mean for him to seem so manipulative this chapter.


	4. Chapter 4

I do not own Underworld or any of the characters.

* * *

Fall

"May I?" John asked, holding out his hands.

Kahn set a pair of hand grenades in them and he pulled the pin on one, dropping it into the ladder well they were standing at the top of. The explosion sent silver shrapnel flying around the ladder well, killing all of the Lycans in it. Then, John and Selene dropped through, John tossing the other grenade down the hallway in front of them just as several more Lycans ran down it, only to be killed in the blast. The rest of Kahn's men headed down the hallway, John and Selene taking up the rear. However, just a they reached a fork and headed right, Selene stopped, turning around and sprinting away.

"This way!" John said, turning and heading after her, Kahn and his men just behind him.

Selene disappeared into the maze of tunnels and John, Kahn, and Kahn's men all slowed down, making their way quickly through the tunnels, the sounds of gunfire echoing through them from deeper in. As they continued, they heard the sound of transformed Lycans scurrying around them. They all turned, looking around, Kahn aiming his M4 into a dark tunnel. Just as a Lycan stepped out of it, he opened fire, killing it. John turned toward him just as a Lycan stood from a small opening in the wall near floor level beside Kahn. John put a Silver Nitrate bullet between its eyes, dropping it and Kahn nodded. Then, a pair of Lycans dropped behind John, killing Kahn's two men who were with them before John spun, dropping both Lycans.

"Shit," John growled. "We need to go, now."

Kahn nodded and they turned, sprinting through the tunnels at random before skidding to a stop as they reached a watery area where a larger than usual transformed Lycan had just killed a Vampire that worked for Kahn and who wielded a pair of sharpened silver whips. Kahn raised his rifle but John pushed it back down as the Lycan turned to them and visibly relaxed, stooping down to be on eye-level with John.

"Raze," John said. "You were supposed to be gone."

Raze growled as Kahn stared at him.

"Where's Lucien?" John asked.

Raze looked to a hole in the wall and then lifted his left arm. John nodded.

"Get out of here Raze," John said. "Viktor is here."

Raze roared and charged off into the tunnels. John groaned.

"You're working with them," Kahn said.

"It's not what you think," John said.

"You're a hypocrite," Kahn said, leveling his rifle at him. "You're no better than Kraven."

"I saved Amelia from Kraven's trap," John said. "I spared a Lycan because he was loyal and following orders the same way we do. I'm trying to get a peace treaty."

"How?" Kahn demanded. "By delivering Viktor to them?"

"Yes!" John snapped. "Because this is all Viktor's fault!"

"How?" Kahn demanded.

" _Viktor_ started the war, not Lucien!" John snapped. "All Lucien did was fall in love with Viktor's daughter! Lucien impregnated her after marrying her in secret, and when Viktor found out, he had Lucien whipped and his own daughter, with their unborn child, burned alive! After that, Lucien tried to flee and they tried to kill him! So the other Lycans fought to save him, and Lucien fought, and defeated, Victor! That's how the war started! _Our_ Lycan slaves rebelled because of how we treated them, then began to fight back rather than run and hide because Victor murdered an unborn child!"

Kahn stared at him for a moment before lowering his rifle.

"I'm not going to kill you," Kahn said. "But I'm not helping you. You're on your own. If I see you again, I'll kill you."

John nodded and kahn turned, running down another tunnel, toward the sound of gunfire, and John followed the tunnel Raze had indicated, stopping as he found Lucien, dark lines of Silver Nitrate spiderwebbing across his face from a bullet hole in his shoulder and his right hand blackened.

"Dammit, Lucien no!" John growled. "Dammit you can't die! I need you!"

"Not dead yet," Lucien growled, stirring and forcing his hand open. "I have to get to Michael. I have to finish."

John pulled him to his feet, supporting him as they left the room, Lucien giving him directions through the tunnels.

"Why do you need me anyway?" Lucien asked.

"I need you to become a Hybrid and kill Viktor," John said. "Amelia's alive, she'll agree to a truce with you afterward."

"You got that far on your own?" Lucien asked. "Guess I chose the wrong assistant. Kraven's a useless backstabber."

"Kraven will get what's coming to him once I find him, but first we need to get you your upgrade," John said.

"Not me," Lucien said. "Too late for me. I wouldn't be able to defeat Viktor now even if I did become a Hybrid. Michael. You have to bite Michael. He'll become a hybrid, He'll be strong enough to kill Viktor."

"What about you?" John asked. "What about the peace treaty?"

"Tell Raze," Lucien said.

"Raze went after Viktor," John said.

"Dammit," Lucien growled. "Then the Lycans are going to descend into chaos. The war will end but there will be no peace treaty. They'll all fight for power and destroy themselves."

They stepped into the room where Michael was being held and stopped, seeing he and Selene kissing. John blinked then smirked and Lucien shook his head slowly, also smiling slightly. After a moment, Michael noticed the pair and pulled back, eyes wide. Selene turned but froze when she saw who it was, and Lucien's condition.

"Help me," John said, setting Lucien down.

Both hurried over, Selene grabbing a blood packet off a nearby table, along with a pair of syringes.

"If I can draw out all of the silver nitrate, you should be okay," Selene said, jabbing it into Lucien's arm.

"Don't waste your time," Lucien smiled. "I appreciate it, but blood makes a complete circuit through the body in fifty seconds. It's too late for me. But you can save Michael."

"Save him from what?" Selene asked.

Just then, a gun went off, Silver Nitrate erupting from Michael's back before two more shot hit. Selene spun, putting a bullet in Kraven's gut before turning back to Michael.

"I can't believe my luck," John said standing. "I actually get to deliver your head as promised."

"To Viktor?" Kraven growled. "Hah! Let me tell you a little something about your beloved Dark Father, you bitch. He's the one that killed your family, not the Lycans. He never could follow his own rules. Said he couldn't abide without the taste of livestock. So every once in a while he went out and gorged himself on human blood. I kept his secrets, cleaned up the mess. But it was he who crept room to room, dispatching everyone close to your heart. But when he got to you, he just couldn't bear the thought of draining you dry. You, who reminded him so much of his precious Sonja. The daughter he condemned to death."

"Lies," Selene snarled.

"It's true about his daughter," John said. "I don't know about your family."

"It was probably him," Lucien said. "Even while I was still there, he would go out to feed."

Kraven turned to him raising his pistol just as John whistled.

Kraven turned to him and John fired, a bullet hitting Kraven in the arm, ultraviolet light shining through instantly, burning the arm off but then falling away, not killing him. Kraven staggered away, then turned and fled. John rolled his eyes, sighing, then turned to Selene.

"Just bite him for crying out loud," John said. "He's a descendent of Corvinus and already got bit by a Lycan."

Selene's eyes widened before she leaned down, biting him. John turned to Lucien just as Viktor's sword drove itself down through Lucien's head. Then, Viktor grabbed Selene, throwing her away and picked up Michael, hurling him through the wall and out into the room where John had met Kahn. Michael splashed down and John turned to Lucien as Viktor ripped the sword free.

"Where's Kraven?" Viktor demanded.

"He got away," John said. "He'll be heading back to the mansion," John said. "I got his arm."

He pointed to the hand and half a forearm that remained of Kraven's arm, his fingers adorned with a couple of rings, proving it was his.

"Good," Viktor said. "Go and finish him."

"Of course," John bowed, pulling up Lucien's sleeves, exposing his retractible silver blades.

He removed them, strapping them on his own forearms, then turned and walked to the door, stopping just out of sight and checking his mag of UV rounds. There were three soldier plus Viktor in the room. He had ten rounds. More than enough.

"Forgive me my child," Viktor said.

"It wasn't the Lycans," Selene breathed. "It was you."

"Leave us," Viktor ordered.

John finished screwing in his suppressor just as the three soldiers passed him. He put the gun to one's head, firing and catching the shell before quickly dropping the other two in a similar manner. Then, he returned to his spot, double checking his rounds. Seven left.

"Is it not a fair trade the life I have given you, the gift of immortality?" Viktor was saying.

"And the life of your daughter?" Selene asked. "Your own flesh and blood?"

Viktor was silent for several seconds. "I loved my daughter. But the abomination growing in her womb was a betrayal of me and of the coven! I did what was necessary to protect the species! As I am forced to do, yet again!"

Just as John heard Viktor's sword be drawn, he stepped out, firing two rounds. The first skimmed Viktor's cheek. The second stuck into his shoulder. However, John blinked and Viktor was flicking a glowing blue mixture of blood and chemicals off of his charred fingertips.

"How..." John trailed off, raising the pistols again just as Michael was suddenly beside Viktor.

He was different now. His skin was a dark blue, making his hair look dark grey, his eyes were completely black, the skin around his ribs pulled too tight as though it were being sucked in on itself, and he had claws. His shirt had ripped off during the transformation but his pants remained intact. Viktor began to turn but Michael shoved him, hurling him out through the hole. Victor flew through the air, splashing down at Michael's feet, Michael having already moved. John gaped in shock, as did Selene, as Victor turned to him and stood, only for Michael to be behind him suddenly. Viktor spun, attacking him relentlessly, but Michael ducked out of the way of the strikes, one after another.

After a moment, he sidestepped a punch and slashed Viktor across the face. Viktor snarled angrily and John fired at him three times only for the bullets to splash down in the water and Viktor to hurl a stone at John. The stone crashed into John's shoulder and John staggered away, gritting his teeth as his arm hung limp.

"John, get out of here," Selene said. "Get to the mansion before Kraven does. He'll probably try to kill Marcus."

"He won't," John said. "He's after Erika, to pay me back for taking his arm. Fortunately, she's not there. I gotta go. I'll see you again soon, alright."

"Yes," Selene said. "Go. We'll handle Viktor."

John nodded, glancing at Lucien one last time before sprinting through the tunnels toward the exit. Just before it, he slowed to a stop as he found Raze, his neck broken and Kahn lying beside him, wounded by multiple gunshot wounds but alive.

"You..." Kahn coughed up blood and lay back against the wall, grimacing. "You owe me."

"What happened to you?" John asked.

"They were going to...finish off Raze," Kahn said before coughing again. "I stopped them. They didn't like it."

"He's alive?" John blinked, looking to Raze just as Raze twitched a finger and looked up at him using only his eyes.

"He'll heal eventually," Kahn said.

"So will you," John said, pulling his sleeve up and cutting his wrist. "Drink. It'll taste like shit but it'll work."

Kahn glared at him before accepting the blood. After several seconds, he released John's arm as bullets forced their way out of him and he healed. Then, he stood, picking up his rifle.

"Since he's your friend, you're carrying him," Kahn said.

John smiled and nodded, before glancing back the way he had come.

"I'll be right back," John said.

He sprinted back through the tunnels to where he had passed several blood packets and spare clothes, then returned, finding Kahn sitting on Raze like a couch.

"I could get used to him," Kahn said.

"He's going to kick your ass," John said, sticking a tube into the back like a straw and getting it moving then sticking it in Raze's mouth.

After a moment, there was a series of loud cracks and snaps beforeRaze growled, sitting up and taking the bag, ripping it open and draining it quickly. Then, he pulled the jeans and jacket John had grabbed on and the three of them ran to the exit, Raze leading, before jumping into one of Kahn's men's cars and John sped off.

"So, I suppose this means we're officially wanted criminals," Kahn said.

"Raze is going to take charge of the Lycan now that Lucien is dead. He'll be making a peace treaty with Amelia."

"But what about Viktor?" Raze asked.

"Michael and Selene will handle him," John said.

"Michael never turned," Raze said.

"He's a hybrid now," John said. "He'll be fine."

John skidded to a stop in front of an apartment building and popped the trunk then sprinted inside, ignoring Kahn asking what he was doing. John sprinted up the stairs three at a time until he reached his own private safe house and kicked the door in, Erika spinning toward him and aiming a pistol only to sigh in relief when she saw it was him.

"We need to move," John said. "Kraven's looking for you. We're going to go and find him."

"Why me?" Erika asked.

"Because of me," John said. "Now grab the blood and let's go."

He grabbed numerous guns from his rack, dropping them on his ammo crate before lifting it and hurrying out onto the steps, Erika just behind him with packets of cloned blood.

"Fair warning, we have a very large Lycan with us," John said. "He's on our side, for now."

"Wait, what?" Erika asked. "How?"

"Because there really aren't any sides right now," John said. "I have to kill Soren and his team and Kraven, and then we're going to be on the run for defying Viktor. At least, until Amelia and our new friend the next head Lycan are able to make a treaty."

"Amelia?" Erika asked as they tossed their loads into the trunk of the car and John slammed it shut.

"I saved her," John said. "Let's go!"

He threw himself behind the wheel, Erika climbing in back beside Raze and glancing at him before closing her door. John took off, heading for the mansion but then slammed on the brakes as it came into view, burning. They sat in silence as they stared at it. Then, John opened his door, standing.

"No, get back in here!" Kahn hissed.

"Kahn, take the car and leave," John said.

"No way," Kahn said. "I'm not leaving you."

"Get out of here," John said.

Kahn grumbled an agreement shifting to the driver's seat as Raze stepped up beside John, snarling at Soren. Soren threw his jacket off, pulling a pair of silver whips from his shoulders, sapping them.

"Another whip fighter," John smirked as Kahn sped off. "You and your men used to be the torturers, right?"

"I'll tear him to pieces," Raze snarled.

"He's all yours," John said. "As much as I want to take his head myself. I'll handle the other three."

Raze shrugged his coat off, beginning to grow, if that was even possible. As he did, John sprinted at the other three, rolling to the side as they fired at him. As he continued to sprint, they swung their guns around toward him and he dropped into a slide, stopping below them and standing, knocking their guns aside before slamming a palm strike into one's throat and spinning, grabbing another in a head lock, bending him forward and grabbing his chin. before he could snap his neck, the vampire reached up, ripping John's ear buds out. John grit his teeth, struggling to make his body respond but the harder he tried, the less it responded. The vampire ripped his arm away and spun John by it, hurling him. John landed hard, standing as the vampire chased after him.

He tried to block the telegraphed punch but it crashed into his jaw anyway. Next, the vampire slammed a knee into his gut, bending him forward before slamming a hammer fist strike into the back of his head, then meeting his face on the way down using his foot in a football kick, launching him backward and breaking his nose. John crashed to the ground, pushing himself to his feet and gripping his earbud with a shaking hand, slowly lifting it to his ear, but his hand was shaking too much to be able to line it up well enough to get it in. The vampire swatted his hand away then slammed a roundhouse kick into his face, flipping him backward. As John landed, the other two walked over, the one that had kicked him picking him up by his shirt and slamming his fist into his face again and again.

Blood began to fill one eye, turning everything red and leaving the three of them as slightly darker blurs, then the other eye swelled shut. Finally the punching stopped and a knife plunged into his gut, remaining there.

"Hah! Look at the great Death Dealer John now," a vampire said before spitting on him and kicking him in the ribs.

John groaned, rolling onto his side, away from them. Music filled his ear, his earbud being trapped below his head. He slowly dragged his hands to his face, the higher one staying there as the other carefully worked the earbud into his ear. Then, John rolled back, ripping the knife out of his gut and forcing his bloodied eye open, hurling the knife at one of the blurs. Pain exploded through his body from his eye, but the blur dropped, so John fought to keep his eye open. He pushed himself up, putting the other earbud in and one of the vampires swung at him. He couldn't judge distance, so he allowed it to impact with his jaw then caught it as he spun away, slamming the vampire into the ground and ripping the arm out of socket before curb stomping something on the blur, hearing a sickening, wet crunch as whatever he hit caved in. He turned toward the other vampire as the vampire's leg swung around. John grit his teeth, lifting his arm and allowing the kick to slam into his ribs, shattering two, then wrapping his arm around the leg, sweeping the other foot out from under the vampire and slamming him into the ground before slamming his fist down into what he hoped was the throat, caving it in. Then, he fell backward, closing his eye and holding a hand to it, pulling one earbud out. He could hear a wet tearing sound as Raze growled quietly.

"Raze," John called out. "I'm going to need your help. I can't see."

The wet tearing sound stopped and he heard Raze beginning to shift back, but all thought ceased as soon as he felt every cell in his body suddenly explode into a tsunami of sheer agony. His body contorted and spasmed, he felt bits of his flesh beginning to flake off. Then, it was over.

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	5. Chapter 5

I do not own Underworld or any of the characters.

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Regrouping

John groaned miserably as he pushed himself up slowly, sitting back against the wall as he watched Raze walk toward him, carrying a sandwich bag of blood. He didn't know where Raze kept getting the blood, and he didn't want to know. He accepted the back, drinking the contents carefully. Once he was done, he gritted his teeth as his still-present burns flared up again, agony filling him as they healed slowly. Raze watched him in silence until the burns finally sealed themselves. The pain faded, but his body remained weak. He still wasn't going to be as strong as he should be. He wouldn't even be capable of walking on his own.

"Are you okay?" Raze asked.

"Healed," John said. "Not okay. We can't wait any longer, though. We need to find the others."

Raze nodded, lifting him and turning, walking away. When the sun had hit John, Raze had used his massively oversized coat to shield him from it, then had run him to the motel that Raze had somehow convinced the owner of to give them a room for free. Then, he had begun the process of getting John blood three times a day for the last three days while John's burns healed. The fire at the mansion had been caused by Marcus, who had been revived by werewolf blood, thus becoming a hybrid, and who had then taken off.

"Where are they?" Raze asked as he set John in a truck that John didn't want to know the origin of.

"There's a safe house three blocks from here on the right," John said. "It's Kahn's favorite because it's one only he and I knew about."

"Okay," Raze nodded.

A few minutes later, Raze got out, helping John stand and then helping him inside to the safe house. John knocked on the door and after a moment, the door flew open and Erika grabbed John in a hug. John's legs gave out and Erika gasped in surprise, lifting him to the couch and setting him down. Almost a second later, Kahn knelt in front of John, holding out a pair of blood bags. John ripped the plug off of one, drinking it hungrily before opening the second, drinking it more slowly, feeling his strength beginning to return. As he sipped at the blood, Raze filled Kahn and Erika in on what they had seen and what had happened.

"Do we know where Selene and Michael are?" Erika asked.

"No," John said. "They went into hiding well. Selene's the best at it. But if I had a guess, I'd say that she's going to end up looking for the historian she banished."

"He's the one that made our UV rounds," Raze said. "I can take you there."

"He's what?" John asked. "Why would he do that?"

"Because he knows what really happened at the beginning of the war," Raze said.

John nodded. "Alright. We'll go tomorrow. I need one more day of rest."

Raze nodded and looked around.

"There are three rooms," John said. "The only bed big enough for you is through there." He pointed to a door off on his left. "Kahn, you want to sleep in the bed or the couch? I can pass out in either place, and Erika has the other bed."

"I'll take the bed," Kahn said. "I have a feeling it wouldn't be used anyway."

"You're lucky I'm too tired to get up," John said. "Otherwise I'd beat you senseless."

"You're not staying on the couch," Erika said.

"Oh yes I am," John said. "You're certainly not taking the couch."

"I'm going to go check the sensors one last time and then I'll take first watch," Kahn said.

"Sure," John nodded, lying down.

"Get up," Erika said, taking John by the arm and pulling. "You're not sleeping here."

John groaned but relented, standing, with her help, and draining the last of his blood before allowing her to help him into one of the bedrooms. Then, he sat on the bed as she closed and locked the door. He looked up at her as she turned back toward him, sighing and pushing off the door. She walked over and knelt in front of him, looking up at him with tears in her eyes.

"I was so afraid you were gone," Erika said. "I saw the mansion burning on the news...I thought you had been killed."

"I'm alright," John smiled, reaching out and brushing a tear from her eyes. "I'm not going anywhere."

Erika reached up and took his hand, holding it in both of her own. She sniffed as tears began to roll down her cheeks. "I'm sorry."

"For what?" John asked.

"For ignoring you," Erika said. "For always treating you like trash when you were just trying to help."

"I don't care," John smiled. "I know why you did it. I know what if feels like to love someone and not have them love you back. Because that's how I feel about you. That's why I made Kraven swear to give you a chance."

"You...what?" Erika blinked, staring at him. "If...If you...love me...why would you try to get me with Kraven?"

"Because you would have been happy that way," John said. "I wanted you to be happy. Even though I knew Kraven would die soon, I thought maybe you could be happy if you were able to be with him for a little while."

Erika stared at him in silence for a long while. Then, she grabbed his head, mashing her lips to his. He jerked backward from the initial surprise, breaking the kiss. Erika's head fell instantly.

"I'm so sorry," Erika said. "I didn't mean-"

John cut her off by pulling her into a kiss. She melted into it instantly, wrapping her arms around his neck as she climbed onto the bed, straddling his lap. After several seconds, John lay back, Erika following and resting her hands on his chest. John remained there, reveling in the feeling of his head flying through the clouds and his stomach flipping over and over again. Every brush of Emily's lips on his own, every brush of her tongue against his own, every movement of her body against his. It was all sending him higher and higher. Yet still, the kiss stayed slow. He didn't want to push things, because he was already exactly where he wanted to be. He didn't need anything more. Not yet. However, after a few minutes, he felt Erika's hands move down to his, guiding them lower, onto her rear. He gave in to her request happily, squeezing and massaging her rear, Erika moaning into the kiss and rocking her hips against him. He sucked in a breath, pulling her tighter against him and she tilted her head back, moaning quietly, allowing him to move his lips to the side of her neck, earning a second moan. One of her hands slipped off of his chest, knocking his earbud out and making him pull back. Erika captured his lips before he could react, pinning his hands.

"I-I-I-I n-n-need-" John began but stopped when she kissed him again.

"It's alright," Erika said, taking the earbuds and the mp3, setting them on the bedside table. "We can go slow. I don't mind."

John swallowed back tears and kissed her again, the kiss slower than before due to his body not responding quite right. Erika didn't seem to mind though. She allowed him to set the pace, and after a few minutes, he slipped his hands back to her rear, Erika moaning and rocking her hips against him again.

* * *

Kahn shook his head slowly as he heard the bed creak again. He was ecstatic for John. His best friend had finally gotten the girl of his dreams. The only problem was that he the walls were too thin. He picked up his own mp3, putting in the earbuds and starting the music. Then, he settled in for a very long night.

* * *

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	6. Chapter 6

I do not own Underworld or any of the characters.

* * *

Brothers

John rested his head on top of Erika's as Raze drove, Kahn riding shotgun. Erika's thumb traced over the back of his own and he smiled, reaching his other hand up and brushing some of her hair behind her head. Erika smiled, lifting her head and kissing him, John kissing her back. After a moment, he pulled back, resting his head against hers and smiling. He saw Kahn shaking his head in the front seat and grinned, kissing Erika again before pulling her onto his shoulder again, resting his cheek on top of her head.

"How much further?" John asked.

"About five minutes," Raze said. "I should warn you, he has a couple of Lycans guarding him. Ones that lost their senses."

John nodded, picking up his retractable blades from beside him on the seat and strapping them on. Then, he drew his pistols, checking the ammo. One was loaded with silver nitrate, and the other with UV rounds.

"Don't shoot us with those, okay?" Kahn asked.

"You'll be fine," John said. "I'm not using them."

"Then why do you have them?" Kahn asked.

"In case anyone shows up that we don't want to see," John said. "Like enforcers from the other Covens."

"Fair enough," Kahn nodded.

They remained silent for the rest of the trip, Kahn readying a pair of pistols and handing on back to Erika. She took it, staring at it in silence. It was a Glock 17 custom chambered for .45 caliber bullets and with an extended mag to hold twenty rounds. She stared at it like she was expecting it to bite her.

"Hold it like this," John smiled, wrapping her hand around it, his own hand over hers. "Your other hand goes here." He took her free hand, placing it on the grip, showing her how to hold it.

"But you sometimes shoot one-handed," Erika said.

"That takes a lot of practice," John chuckled. "Now, shooting is easy. Squeeze this with your index finger." He tapped the back of her finger, which was sitting on the trigger before slipping the pistol out of her hand. "Now, basic rules. Try not to point it at any of us. When you're not shooting, keep your finger straight, like this." He showed her how to hold his trigger finger. "Now, this ejects the mag, this locks the slide back and releases it." He showed her both, and how to generally work the pistol.

Erika ran through it a few times as they rode before he showed her different kinds of problems she might find, like having a round get stuck partway out. Erika continued practicing and manipulating the pistol until Raze stopped outside the compound. They all got out and John turned to Erika.

"One last thing," John said. "If a lycan has already transformed, aiming at it won't work. You have to predict its movements and then aim where you think it'll be. That comes with training. If there's a transformed lycan coming after you, get behind one of us. Okay?"

Erika nodded, slipping her left hand into right. He smiled, kissing the side of her head before they walked up to the door. Raze pounded on it a few times but nothing happened. He knocked again. Still nothing.

"Problem?" John asked.

"I think your friends are already here," Raze said, slamming his foot into the door, smashing it inward instantly.

A roar echoed from inside and a pair of lycans charged out. John drew his Walther P99 and dropped both before they walked inside. They walked through the hallways, Raze leading the way, until they reached a room where a vampire was smoking heavily, a stack of cigarettes in front of him and a strange machine glowing slightly with UV light and a couple dozen UV bullets on the right.

"So it's true," John said, walking forward and stopping in front of the vampire. "You really sold out your own kind, didn't you Tanis?"

"Well, when I'm banished for telling the truth about our elders' crimes, it seemed like the right thing to do," Tanis said. "And now Marcus is flying around as a hybrid. You'd better be careful. He's hunting down traitors. You all might be next. Or maybe he'll be coming after me. You never can tell with our elders."

"Tell me," John said, sitting down and drawing his Type 54, pulling the slide to chamber a round and giving Tanis a view of the UV rounds. "Would it be in our best interest more for me to shoot you, or leave you to Marcus?"

"Shoot me," Tanis said. "Selene and Michael went To meet with someone who knows about the Corvinus brothers."

"Why?" John asked.

"Marcus is the first vampire ever," Tanis said. "He's Alexander Corvinus's son. His brother, William, is the first werewolf."

"I know that," John said. "What I meant was, why are they trying to find out more about Marcus and William?"

"Viktor promised to help Marcus tame William, then imprisoned him for eternity in a tomb with a key and lock that Marcus knows nothing about," Tanis said. "Selene's family built the tomb. It's why Viktor killed them. What do you think Marcus will be trying to do now that he's free and more powerful than ever?"

"Free William," Raze said. "We can't allow that to happen."

"What about your friend?" John asked. "Who is he?"

"Lorenz Macaro," Tanis said. "You'll find him at the port."

"Thank you," John said. "Goodbye."

He squeezed off several rounds into Tanis, the UV light beginning to burn away. Then, John holstered his pistol, walking toward the door, the others following him. They quickly left the building and got back in the car, quickly driving away. John looked out the window as Marcus shot past overhead, headed directly for Tanis's hideout.

"We need to ditch this car, right now," John said.

Raze stopped immediately, everyone piling out. Then, Raze tore the guard rail open, bending it outward like a car had gone through it, and shoved the car over the edge. Then, they all ran down the street, leaving the hideout behind. Finally, they slowed to a stop at a small town, John quickly and easily opening the door to a van, getting in and hot wiring it. Then, they left the town, heading to the port to find Selene and Michael.

* * *

"How long do you think we have?" Kahn asked.

"Not long," John said. "At best I'd say we have probably a ew minutes before Marcus arrives."

Just as he said that, Marcus crashed into the side of the ship, smashing through it instantly. John swore, leaping out of the car and drawing his pistols. Since Marcus was a hybrid, neither specialty round would work against him. As he ran, Kahn, Erika, and Raze caught up, John dropping both mags and slipping them into his pockets, Kahn tossing him a pair of mags loaded with normal silver rounds. He loaded his pistols with the mags and glanced at Kahn.

"Kahn, you three go to the command deck," John said. "I'll help Selene and Michael with Marcus."

Kahn nodded and branched off, Raze and Erika following, Erika much less happily than Raze. John leapt into the hole in the side of the ship, landing on a catwalk just as Marcus slammed Michael down onto a pipe, impaling him through the heart. Marcus then turned, his wings, which were collapsed into a pair of spikes, drove themselves through Selene's hands, pinning her to the wall.

"Now, you will show me your secrets," Marcus said.

Just as he moved to bite Selene, John opened fire, bullets driving themselves into Marcus's back. He roared in agony, the spikes ripping themselves out of Selene's hands as Marcus spun, snarling in rage. John continued to fire as Marcus shot toward him. John dove to the side, one of Marcus's claws tearing across John's back, throwing him to the side. Marcus landed on the catwalk a short distance from John. He looked to John before licking Selene's blood off of his spikes. Marcus's eyes rolled back in his head as Selene's memories filled his mind. Then, as he finished going through them, he licked John's blood of of his claws, eyes again rolling back in his head.

"You're a traitor," Marcus said as he finished with John's memories. "You, Kahn, Selene...Erika. Erika is very important to you."

"Don't you dare touch her," John snarled, picking up his guns.

"You made a pact with Lucien," Marcus said. "And you saved Amelia's life. Told her to go into hiding until you could make peace between her and the Lycan you're traveling with, Raze."

"Would you like me to explain my actions, or do you want to do it yourself?" John asked. "You're trying to tame your brother, and I'm trying to make peace with an entire race of werewolves. Do I need to point out the hypocrisy in you killing me for that?"

"No," Marcus said. "That would be hypocritical. I'm not going to kill you for trying to create peace. Nor am I going to kill you for helping Selene kill Viktor. He got what he deserved. But you _did_ betray the coven. That is unacceptable. For it, you must die. However, if you accept your fate, I'll make Erika's death painless."

"As I said, don't you dare touch her," John snarled.

"Try and stop me," Marcus invited.

John's arms snapped up, his pistols opening fire as Marcus strode forward. The bullets drilled into his body but he ignored it. Then, just as John's pistols ran dry, he dropped them, extending his arm blades in time to slash one of Marcus's spikes aside. Marcus snarled angrily, lunging at John. John ducked under the slash and split Marcus's side open with a blade. Then, he spun, slashing at Marcus again, only for Marcus to leap over it. As Marcus fell, he kicked John, launching him backward. John flipped, landing on his feet and sprinted at Marcus. He slashed upward at Marcus, who sidestepped it, then drove a spike into John's side. He lifted John into the air, and John shouted in pain, slashing the spike off. Marcus roared, leaping backward as John caught the catwalk, groaning and pulling himself up. Marcus appeared over him, his remaining spike driving itself into John's back and lifted him up over the catwalk, hurling him to the side.

John crashed down on the platform across from the catwalk where Selene was and groaned, rolling onto his side. Selene was crawling toward Marcus, apparently having been beaten halfway to death by Marcus before being pinned. John groaned again, slowly pushing himself up in time for Marcus's claws to drive themselves into his abdomen. His blood splattered across the ground and he grit his teeth as his blood ran out of his mouth. Then, he extended a blade and drove it through Marcus's chest. Marcus roared in agony, hurling John away, flying up through a hole in the roof. John crashed down hard and coughed, blood splattering across the ground. Beside him, Selene had pulled Michael off of the pole and was trying to revive him with her blood, unsuccessfully. His vision began to blur and his head lulled to the other side, staring at the wall. He watched as blood spread slowly into his vision. This was it. He couldn't move. He couldn't see clearly. He'd never be able to see Erika again.

His heart shattered in his chest. He had finally just managed to be with her. Now he would never see her again. He felt tears falling down his face. He couldn't do that. He couldn't let go. He willed his arm to move, managing to get it to lift in front of him before it dropped. He had to see her. He had to. If he could just see her face one last time, he'd be able to die happy.

He slowly dragged his arm to his face, he hand coated in his blood. He forced his hand to his mouth, licking some blood off of it and swallowing. His stomach rolled and his head throbbed painfully. And then, she was there. Smiling kindly as he tried to stutter out a compliment. Wearing that black dress he had so loved. Crying when she saw he was still alive. Then, she was kissing him. Then, she was lying there with him. Their hands clasped between them in the bed, smiling sadly.

"I'm not ready," he said, tears rolling down his face again, sniffing.

She simply smiled, kissing him lightly before standing beside the bed, as beautiful as he remembered. Her hand was still holding his, tugging lightly on his. He felt himself slowly beginning to move. Beginning to follow. Tears began to fall faster. He didn't want to go. He wasn't ready.

He stopped moving. His stomach ached dully. So did his back, and his side. He looked up at Erika and she smiled at him. Then, her hand slipped out of his and she turned, beginning to walk away in slow motion, John beginning to feel his pains growing worse, more pronounced. Then, his vision began to darken. He closed his eyes, feeling exhausted. He felt pain flare in his stomach and his eyes creaked open, finding Kahn standing over him. He was on his back and his stomach burned like someone was poking it. He rolled his head to the side and a small smile slowly growing on his lips as he watched Erika working to stitch his abdomen closed so that it could heal faster. Her face was a complete mask of concentration, not a hint of any emotion in any part of her face.

Finally, she broke the thread with her fingernail, tying it off and sitting back, wiping his blood on her pants. He smiled slightly as she looked up at him, smiling as well.

"What happened?" he croaked.

"Marcus got away," Erika said, her voice almost as hoarse as his. "He killed Corvinus and Michael. And he took the two pieces to the key to William's tomb."

"Corvinus?" John croaked. "What do you mean?"

"Oh, right," Erika said. "Lorenz Macaro was Alexander Corvinus. He's spent his immortal life keeping the mortals from finding out about our war with the Lycans. Marcus killed him and took the key pieces. Then Alexander made Selene bite him."

"Why?" John asked.

"To transfer her his virus," Raze said, kneeling beside Erika. "She'll be immune to the sun, now."

"Where is she?" John asked.

"She left to stop Marcus," Raze said. "There's a chopper waiting to take us."

"I can't move," John said.

"Here," Raze said, holding out a blood bag. "This should be enough."

John took the blood bag, draining it quickly, his side and back sealing and his abdomen beginning to seal. Erika helped him sit up, then handed him a second blood bag. John drained that one too and felt his stomach seal. It would be a while before his strength returned, but at least he wasn't bleeding out now.

"Where's our chopper?" John asked, struggling to his feet.

"What are you talking about?" Erika asked. "We can't fight Marcus! We can't fight William! You can barely stand!"

"We have to go," John said. "We have to make sure Selene and Michael win."

"Okay," Erika said. "Let's go then."

John nodded, Kahn taking his arm over his shoulder as they walked to a stairwell, making their way back to the deck where there was a chopper sitting, a single human soldier standing beside it.

"Ready to go?" the human asked.

"Yes," John nodded, climbing into the chopper and buckling himself in, Erika sitting beside him as Raze and Kahn sat across from him.

The human took off in silence and they flew just as silently, watching the world pass by below them.

* * *

John watched the ruin, hearing the roars from inside. He raised a shaking hand, pushing his headphones back in before leaping out of the chopper, Erika and Kahn following. They all crashed down on the ground in the center of the castle, the ground shattering and falling, dropping them into an empty cavern. John landed first, catching Erika and setting her on her feet as Kahn landed behind him.

"Let's go," John said, walking across a catwalk to a tunnel.

They walked through the tunnel quickly to a second massive cavern where Selene was struggling to fight a dozen werewolves that were bigger and darker than the usual lycans. In the distance, William was fighting Michael, who was apparently alive again, and Marcus was watching from beside the crashed chopper, the propeller of which was still spinning.

"Hey!" John shouted, Marcus turning toward him as the werewolves all stopped and did the same. "Weren't you even going to make sure I was dead? You're going to regret that."

William roared suddenly and the werewolves attacking Selene spun, charging at John. John drew his Type 54, slamming his silver nitrate mag in and grabbing the pistol with both hands, opening fire. The werewolves all dropped with a single round to the head or chest rapidly, no different than lycans, but after six, his pistol ran dry. John tossed it aside as a werewolf leapt at him, extending his left arm blade and driving it into the werewolf's chest, killing it and spinning, hurling the werewolf into another. It crashed to the ground and he extended the other into its face. Just as he did, Kahn stepped past him, spraying a werewolf with silver bullets, dropping it. Raze caught another and snapped its head around backward. The last two leapt over the three at Erika. John spun to intercept them only for Erika to draw her own pistol filling both werewolves heads with bullets, emptying her pistol, then leapt over the bodies, landing on her feet beside John. He grinned.

"You're a natural," John said.

"Thanks," Erika smiled.

"That's a ridiculous amount of skill for a first time," Kahn said. "When did you train?"

"When I first got turned," Erika said. "I spent a couple of weeks training because I thought Kraven was a Death Dealer."

"Makes sense," John nodded.

Suddenly, William landed in front of them, slashing at Erika. John shoved her out of the way and William's arm batted him aside. Kahn opened fire on William only for him to slash him, hurling him into Raze, knocking both to the ground. Raze stood instantly, throwing his coat off and transforming, roaring and making William stop as he was about to slash Erika. William turned toward Raze and lunged, only for John to crash into him, both blades driving themselves through his torso. They crashed to the ground, John throwing William off the blades with both feet, William rolling onto his hands and feet and leaping at John. As he reached John, Raze leapt over John, clashing William across the face, throwing him to the side and leaving deep gashes across his face. William roared angrily, standing just as Michael appeared behind him, ripping the upper half of his head off completely and hurling it aside, allowing William to fall to the ground.

"William!" Marcus shouted.

Selene moved to go around Marcus and he smashed her backward, driving a spike into her abdomen. John yanked out his P99 and shot the spike, breaking it off. Instantly, Selene ripped the piece inside of her out and drove it up through Marcus's head before stepping past him and shoving him into the propeller of the helicopter, killing him. John sighed in relief, lying down and groaning. Erika sat next to him, slipping her hand into his and smiling as he brushed his thumb over her fingers. He opened his eyes, looking up just as a shaft of sunlight shone through the roof, hitting Michael and Selene, Selene not burning away to a crisp.

"Holy shit," John said. "She's really immune."

Erika nodded, staring in shock. John pushed himself up to a sitting position as Selene looked over at them, stepping away from Michael, who he had been in the middle of hugging. John stood as the two walked over to them.

"Now what?" Selene asked.

"Well, now that we've got a moment to catch our breath," John said. "We need to find Amelia. We need to get the Lycans following Raze, and then we need to get a peace treaty."

"Agreed," Raze nodded. "I can go now."

"No," John said. "We need to rest first. And get you some pants. Besides, it'll take us a while to find Amelia."

"She may have gone into hiding at her coven," Selene suggested. "If she asked, they would hide her away happily."

"True," John nodded. "But if not, we'll have to send her a signal and wait for her to come to us."

"Let's find a safe house to rest in," Michael said. "Once we've rested, we can decide our next move."

John nodded and slipped his hand into Erika's, following Selene and Michael as they walked out of the cave system.

* * *

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	7. Chapter 7

I do not own Underworld or any of the characters.

* * *

Exposed

John smiled, pulling Erika closer, loving the feeling of having her in his arms almost as much as the feeling of her pressing back against him and reaching a hand to the back of his neck. He smiled, lightly brushing his lips over the back of her bare shoulders. She smiled, combing her fingers through the hair on the back of his neck, sighing contentedly. The arm that was pinned under Erika pulled her a little tighter as his kisses gained a little more force, and a little more insistence. The other hand trailed up from her abdomen, cupping her breast and beginning to knead it. Erika's sigh at his kisses and fingers trailing up her side turned into a moan as he massaged her breast. He locked his lips on her pulse point and she tilted her head to the side, moaning again and pressing her hips back against him, feeling his flesh against hers.

"We need to get up," Erika said, rocking her hips against him teasingly. "It's time to go."

"F-F-Five more m-m-m-minutes," John said, holding her in place, despite her not trying to leave.

"No one thinks it'll be that quick," Erika smirked, rolling over so that she was facing him.

John kissed her and she kissed him back, rolling him onto his back before sitting up. His hands slid up her abdomen to her breasts instantly and she tilted her head back, moaning, instantly. Then, she climbed off of him and off the bed, beginning to get dressed as he groaned loudly.

"R-R-Really?" John said. "You're g-g-going to b-b-b-b-be like th-that?"

Erika flashed him a smirk as she pulled her shirt down then tossed him his underwear. John groaned, picking up his underwear and getting dressed. Once he was finished, Erika walked to the door, only for John to catch her, pulling her hips flush against his, one hand slipping between her legs as another slipped up to her breasts. Erika moaned, rocking her hips against his hand before turning around, kissing him and pushing him away. Then, she turned, opening the door and stepping out before he could catch her again. He sighed, following her out into the living room where Kahn was reading a newspaper, ignoring them, and Selene and Michael were watching TV. As soon as they were in the room, Selene and Michael looked over at them, both grinning knowingly. Then, they turned back to the TV just as a news alert came on, everyone staring at it. The news began to play a video tape of a raid on a building where gunshots had been heard. The SWAT officers had been engaged by a pair of shooters, both of which John recognized as vampires, but eventually managed to put enough bullets into the shooters to kill them, losing over half of their own group in the process. However, in the building that they continued to clear, they found lycan corpses, vampire corpses, and a machine that was making UV rounds. The vampires also all had silver nitrate rounds.

"Well, looks like it's finally happening," John said, an earbud in his ear. "We're about to go to war with humanity."

"They found our best rounds on day one, too," Selene said. "Contact Raze. See if he's still safe, or making any headway."

"On it," John said, pulling out his cellphone and dialing.

While he walked away, Selene pulled out her own phone, sending a text to one of her contacts to send a message to Amelia by way of burning her family crest into a mountain. After a moment, John walked back in, pale.

"What?" Selene asked.

"The humans found Raze's pack's hideout," John said. "Raze got out alive, but most of his pack is dead. It'll take him months to gather more while the humans are hunting us."

"Just be thankful they can't really track us," Michael said. "Besides. You've been at this a lot longer than them."

John nodded. "That's probably our only saving grace. Our kind plus the lycans together are still outnumbered three thousand to one."

"Then let's hope they don't figure that out," Selene said. "Come on. We need to get moving. It'll be too dangerous to stay in one place for long now."

John nodded in agreement. They quickly packed up their things, John swapping his Type 54 for a Colt 1911 and also grabbed a Glock 17 with a RONII carbine kit for both himself and Erika. Once they had packed, they left, heading for a more secure and well-hidden safe house. But then, nine days later, chaos began. Human soldiers armed with UV and silver nitrate ammunition began to march through the streets of the city, dragging people out of their homes into the sunlight and making them hold silver objects. As they did, more and more vampire covens were raided and taken down by the humans, and more and more lycan packs were slaughtered. The longer things progressed, the worse things got. Until finally, the day came where everything changed.

* * *

John and Selene watched from the roof as the fires burned, vampires and lycans alike being slaughtered by the humans. John growled angrily.

"We need to get the fuck out of here," John said. "Are you sure your contact is reliable?"

"Yes," Selene nodded. "Michael's there now, making sure they don't leave without us."

John nodded just as a helicopter's light found them. He drew his P99 and shot the light out, then the pilot, making the chopper crash into the street and explode. Then, he holstered the pistol and spun, drawing his RONII just as the door burst open.

"Freeze!" the human soldier that stepped out shouted, only for John to put a round through his head.

"Go!" John said, heading for the stairway as Selene dropped over the edge of the building.

He aimed through the door, firing and dropping another pair of soldiers before starting down the steps. He could head the screams of anyone unfortunate enough to meet Selene as he made his way through the building. While he was still merciful enough to kill them quickly after nine months, Selene had become cruel, folding humans in half backward and letting them die painfully, crushing their throats and letting them suffocate. John actually felt a bit of fear at the thought of having to fight her now.

John rounded a corner to find a wall of soldiers waiting, aiming at him, and raised his hands.

"Don't move!" a soldier shouted, kind of pointlessly considering that the only person they wanted alive was Michael for being a hybrid.

Then, a grenade landed in the middle of the soldiers and John dove for cover, the grenade blasting the soldiers into pieces. John stepped out of cover as Erika dropped out of the concealed storage space in the ceiling above the soldiers that she had been hiding in. He grabbed her in a hug instantly, spinning and kissing her before pulling back.

"We have to get to the port," John said.

Erika nodded as Kahn walked into the room, holding the rifle he had stolen from a human a few weeks earlier in one hand and the hand of a young caucasian girl in the other.

"Everyone, meet Cynthia," Kahn said. "She's a vampire that got turned in order to save her from death after a car accident about a year ago."

"Hello Cynthia," Erika smiled. "We're going to get on a boat out of the city, want to come?"

Cynthia nodded and Erika smiled, picking her up with one arm and pulling her Glock out of her carbine kit with the other. They quickly left the building, taking a back alley that led to a manhole that vampires and lycans both had been using to escape from the humans. Once inside the sewer, they quickly made their way to the bay. John stepped out of the sewer tunnel just as Michael was hit with a silver grenade and thrown into the water. Selene leapt after him but the humans trying to capture him and kill her tossed in a UV-silver dust bomb. John shoved the others backward, retreating into the shadows of the tunnel just as the bomb exploded, a flash of UV light reaching the tunnel but stopping just short of them. John crept to the mouth of the tunnel again and stared out of it as the boat's crew were executed. He watched the water but nothing moved. Finally, he returned to the others, shaking his head.

"Now what?" Kahn asked. "That was our only way out."

"We...we need to find a coven," John said. "One where we'll be able to hide until the Purge is over."

"There are none that are that safe," Erika said.

"There is one," a voice said from behind Kahn, everyone turning to the owner, guns raised. "Relax, I'm a vampire, just like all of you. My coven is underground, literally. The entrance is concealed so they won't be able to find it. If you come with me, I can show you."

"Where?" John asked.

"Outside the city," the man said.

"And just how do you suggest we get outside the city?" John asked.

"The same way I got in," the man said. "The sewer. Follow me."

He turned, walking away, and after a moment, the others followed.

* * *

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	8. Chapter 8

I do not own Underworld or any of the characters.

* * *

Time Lapse

John spun around David as David slashed at him, instead using his arm blade to split David's calf open. David crashed to the ground and John put his blade to his throat. David glared at him as his leg healed then stood.

"Sloppy," John said. "But better."

"Why don't you take those earbuds out and tell me I'm sloppy," David growled.

John snapped, retracting the arm blades and beginning to pummel David with his fists, elbows, knees, feet. By the time Erika and Kahn had pulled him off of David, David was a bleeding mess on the ground, barely conscious.

"Don't you ever use my condition as an insult," John snarled. "You may have helped us but I will gladly walk away and leave your coven undefended."

"I'm...sorry," David panted, Kahn handing him a blood bag, of which they had picked up a few dozen on the way there.

John took a steadying breath before sighing and extending his arm blades again. "Again."

David stood, retrieving his curved blades from the ground and readying himself before attacking John again.

* * *

"Where...is...the hybrid?" John snarled, holding the knife painfully against the human soldier's neck.

"I don't know!" the human shouted. "I heard it was killed during the Purge!"

John snarled angrily and sliced the human's throat, letting him fall. Erika rested a hand on his shoulder and he sighed, calming himself.

"We should head back," Erika said. "We're not finding them today."

John nodded and kissed her, slipping his hand into hers as they began the trip back.

* * *

John kicked David's upper leg as he tried to throw a roundhouse, stopping it before clapping David's ears. Then, he slammed a push kick into David's chest, throwing him backward. His two second most promising students, Kahn and Erika, both charged and John bent backward under their punches, catching Kahn's arm and hurling him into David before catching Erika by the leg and spinning, hurling her away. Then, he spun, sweeping a punch from David under his arm and pulling up at the elbow, David shouting in pain before John kicked his legs out from under him, slamming him into the ground. He broke David's arm and David screamed in agony as John backed away, Kahn and Erika both stopping. After a moment, John reset David's arm for him and gave him a blood bag, David drinking it and healing.

"Where do you keep getting these?" David asked.

"A friend of ours makes synthetic plasma and cloned blood," John said. "He's also exceedingly human, so he's able to supply us without dying."

"Who is it?" David asked.

"A guy who I saved from the lycans a few years back," John said. "He's actually teaching Kahn to clone blood and make synthetic plasma too. Soon, Kahn will be able to feed us all without ever leaving."

David nodded, smiling before preparing to go another round with John.

* * *

"I'm not asking again," John growled, holding the doctor over the edge of the building. "Where's the hybrid?"

"Official records say he died during the Purge!" the doctor shouted again.

"What about the _un_ official ones?" John growled.

"There's a rumor that he might have escaped during the Purge!" the doctor sobbed. "Please, that's all I know!"

"Okay doc," John said. "Last question. Does your EMT buddy happen to carry blood in his ambulance? Because we could really use some blood."

The doctor nodded and John dropped him, allowing him to die as he hit the ground. The EMT sprinted over and John dropped to the ground behind him, knocking him out. Then, he walked to the ambulance, taking all of the blood bags he could find and leaving into an alleyway.

* * *

John sighed as he stared up at the ceiling. Erika rolled over on top of him, giving him a questioning look. "It's been, what, eight years now? Raze hasn't gotten in touch with us once. Amelia hasn't gotten in touch with us once. Hell, the Lycans are practically giant rats now anyway. Did we really do all of that for nothing?"

"Not for nothing," Erika said, sitting up and allowing the sheets to fall off of her. "Even if there's no Lycan-Vampire Truce, even if the lycans disappear entirely, you've still got Kahn. You've still got David. You've still got Cynthia. You've still got me."

"That's true," John smiled, lacing their fingers together before sitting up and kissing her, Erika's arms wrapping around his neck.

After several seconds, he pulled back, smiling up at her.

"What?" she asked.

"I love you," John said.

Erika smiled as well, kissing him again. "I love you too. What's going on with you? You're acting weird."

"Well," John said, leaning back on his hands and slipping one under his pillow, forcing his smile to fade. "There's something I've been meaning to ask."

"What?" Erika asked, worry growing on her face.

"Will you marry me?" John asked, holding out an open ring box, displaying the ring made entirely of diamond inside.

"Oh my god!" Erika gasped, staring at it. "How...where..." finally his question managed to click through the awe of seeing a ring made of nothing but diamond and her eyes widened. "Yes! Yes of course!"

John smiled, taking the ring out and slipping it onto her finger, smiling as she stared in awe of how perfectly the ring fit her. Then, she threw her arms around his neck, kissing him. He kissed her back happily and wrapped his arms around her back, holding her tightly. After a little while, she pulled back, admiring the ring again.

"Where'd you get the ring?" Erika asked. "And how is it such a perfect fit?"

"One of the guys from Amelia's coven was a ring-maker," John said. "And he was exceptional at guessing ring sizes by looking at someone's hands. Remember when they visited our mansion about fifty, maybe sixty, years back?"

"Yes," Erika nodded, confused.

"He got your ring size then, and made a ring for you," John said. "Originally, he said it was going to be a gift to try to win your heart himself, but since he was my friend, and he knew how I felt about you, he gave it to me during the party just before the shit with Lucien started."

"That long ago?" Erika breathed. "Amazing. Thank you so much, John. For everything."

"Of course," John smiled. "I'd do anything for you."

Erika smiled, kissing him for a moment before grinning. "In that case, there is one thing I think I want you to do."

"What's that?" John asked.

Then, before he had even realized she had moved, she had taken his member into her tunnel completely and was beginning to rock slowly.

"Make me wake up the entire coven," Erika moaned, beginning to raise and drop her hips slowly.

"I can do that," John grinned, grabbing her by the hips.

* * *

John watched as David sparred with several other vampires. David had a natural gift for fighting. Nothing like Erika did for shooting, but he was still a remarkably fast learner. If John tried to fight David and Erika both now, he'd probably lose. Kahn was lagging behind but mostly because he spent most of his time cloning blood for the coven.

"John," Erika said, stepping up beside him. "Something's come up."

"What?" John asked.

"Raze," Erika said.

John turned to her instantly, following her as they left the training area, heading to Kahn's work shop, where various machines ran off of generators and where there were freezers full of cloned blood. Kahn was talking on the phone, but when he saw John, he stopped for a second.

"Here's John," Kahn said. "Tell him."

Kahn handed the phone over and John held it to his ear.

"Raze?" John said.

"Yeah," Raze's voice responded, just as deep and intimidating as John remembered. "Sorry I never got into contact. The Purge hit my kind a lot harder than yours."

"I know," John said. "We were afraid we lost you."

"Not yet," Raze said. "Something's been happening to the lycans. They've been getting bigger, more meat on their bones. Like they're eating better."

"Is that bad?" John asked.

"We've been living like rats for twelve years now," Raze said. "Almost all of them look like they would blow away in a strong wind. There's got to be outside tampering involved."

"Why?" John asked.

"The ones getting stronger are feral, John," Raze said. "Uncontrollable, even by Lucien. I've gathered those I could under my name, as Lucien's successor, but if someone's raising an army of feral lycans, then we're about to be in huge trouble."

"Do you have any suspects?" John asked.

"No," Raze said. "But I'm going to find out. Oh, and there's news about Antigen. Apparently they're close to developing a cure for both of our viruses."

"That's possible?" John asked.

"That's what they're saying," Raze said.

"We'll look into that," John said. "Thanks for the tip, and for surviving. I think it's safe to say that if we can ever regain our standing and secrecy in the mortal world, we'll be able to have peace."

"Yes," Raze said. "We will."

"Okay," John said. "Let us know what you find out about the lycans. In the mean time, I'm going to go and see about Antigen."

Raze hung up without a single goodbye and John handed the phone back.

"I'm coming with you," Erika said.

"Okay," John nodded. "Let's go."

She nodded and they grabbed their guns, heading up to the surface and sealing the entrance before taking a pair of motorcycles to the city.

* * *

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	9. Chapter 9

I do not own Underworld or any of the characters.

* * *

Alive

John shut off his bike, sitting back and looking around the empty parking garage. Being on the outskirts of the city was safe enough, and they had used this particular garage before, albeit on a different level. Still, something just never felt right about being in the city anymore. If he and Erika ever managed to retire, he'd happily settle down in the middle of nowhere, bring Cynthia since they had been raising her as their adoptive daughter already. She was more than twenty now, but she still remained a child, both physically and in personality.

"Ready?" Erika asked.

"I think we should retire," John said. "Move to the middle of nowhere with Cynthia. Bring Kahn so he can clone blood for us. Bring Kahn some slut to keep him busy in his free time."

Erika smiled, shaking her head. "That would be wonderful. But first, we need to make the world safe for vampires and lycans both. It's what we chose to do and we're not giving up."

John smiled. "I think we've been together too long. My stubbornness is starting to rub off on you."

"We can worry about things rubbing off on me when we get home," Erika winked. "For now, we have a human business to destroy for trying to cure us."

"Right," John said. "Priorities. Mass murder, then jumping on the bed and moaning loudly just to piss off the coven. Got it."

He smacked the back of his hand to his forehead in a mock salute and Erika laughed again.

"What's gotten into you today?" Erika asked.

"I'm not sure," John said. "I'm just in a good mood I guess."

"Now I _know_ something's wrong," Erika said as they walked to the roof of the parking garage. "You're _never_ in a good mood anymore unless we're in bed or making out. Which is usually what we're doing in bed."

John laughed, shaking his head before taking a breath and growing quiet, staring out at the city, the burn marks and bullet holes still remaining, scars of the Purge. Erika was silent as well, seeing the same thing he was. Fires, vampires and lycans being gunned down and burned in the streets, their entire way of life ending.

"Let's go," John said, his voice low and emotionless once again.

Erika nodded and they ran to the edge of the roof, leaping to the next, then again to the next. As they landed on the third roof, a small boy turned toward them from the side of the roof, staring at them. John and Erika froze, watching the boy. He couldn't have been more than thirteen. After a moment, the boy smiled.

"You guys are vampires aren't you?" the boy asked. "That's so cool!"

"Most people wouldn't think so," John smiled. "Listen, can you do us a favor?"

"Sure," the boy smiled.

"Can you keep this a secret?" John asked. "We're on a very important mission. We're looking for our son."

"Your son?" the boy asked.

"That's right," John nodded. "He was taken from us a year ago, but we think we know where to find him. So we're going to go and get him and take him home."

"I see," the boy said, staring at the roof. "My mom was taken a year ago too. A bunch of men with guns came in and told us my mom was needed for questioning. They said they worked for Antigen. But then my mom never came home."

"What's her name?" John asked.

"Eva," the boy said.

"Tell you what," John said, kneeling in front of him. "If we see you mom, we'll bring her back. Okay? But you can't tell anyone you saw us."

"Okay!" the boy smiled.

"Good boy," John smiled, ruffling the boy's hair.

Then, he and Erika took off again, jumping from roof to roof more quickly.

"She's dead, isn't she?" Erika asked.

"Most likely," John nodded. "If it was Antigen, then she was either a vampire or a lycan. Probably a lycan. They'd have killed her immediately. Unless they were testing the cure. In which case, she may be alive. Or she may be dead anyway."

Erika nodded. "If it was cure testing, then for her sake I hope she's dead."

John nodded as well. Finally they stopped on the edge of a roof looking out at the Antigen building. Just as they did, Selene leapt out of one of the windows, bouncing on a trailer truck and rolling to the back, grabbing on and struggling to climb back up.

"Selene," John breathed. "She's alive."

"Holy shit," Erika breathed. "Let's go!"

As they leapt to the ground, the truck driver slammed on his breaks, throwing Selene to the ground in front of the truck. John raced to stop the man but just as he reached the road, the man fired his pistol, putting a bullet in Selene's head. Except, she didn't die. As John watched, she turned back around then shot forward, grabbing the man and bending him backward, biting him and almost instantly draining him dry, the bullet forcing its way out of her body as she did, the bullet hole sealing.

"Oh my god," John said, Selene spinning, aiming the man's pistol at him only to sigh, lowering it.

"John," Selene said. "Thank God."

John hugged her, Selene hugging him back as Erika walked over, Selene hugging her as well. Then, she stepped back, looking around.

"Where are we?" Selene asked.

"Same city," John said. "Twelve years after you and Michael were attacked."

"I see," Selene nodded. "Come on. We need to get out of here."

John nodded and they all ran away from the Antigen building, finding a warehouse for clothes to be stored where Selene got a coat to go over her tight leather outfit. It wasn't a great disguise, but it would do better than her signature leather, which somehow screamed vampire to humans. As Selene walked away from the clothes, she stopped at a long glass display case, the kind that one would expect to find guns in years ago. Now, though, there was everything from silver blades and bullets, to UV rounds, to lycan and vampire teeth, and even a radio with a tag that claimed it had been used by vampires to during a fight against the humans. John smirked and picked the lock, opening the case and tossing Selene a couple mags of silver bullets and a silver knife. Selene nodded to him and slipped the knife into an inside pocket on her jacket as John also got himself and Erika a few mags of silver bullets, since their pistols had all been customized to use the same one-size-fits-all pistol mags that humans now used, and then filled his pockets with extra bullets for the coven.

"Why so many?" Selene asked.

"We found a surviving coven," John said. "Silver bullets work as well on humans as a normal bullet, so why not?"

"Fair enough," Selene nodded. "What have I missed?"

"Raze is alive and trying to gather followers, but he thinks someone is turning feral lycans into an army. Aside from that, we still don't know what happened to Amelia, our coven is filled with vampires who have been trained to fight like death dealers thanks to yours truly, Kahn makes cloned blood for us now, in addition to handling the weapons, and Erika and I are married."

Selene rounded on him, smiling widely. "Congratulations!"

John smiled as Selene hugged Erika, admiring both her diamond engagement ring and the silver wedding band Erika wore with it. Just then, police sirens wailed and they all ran out of the warehouse, ducking into a back alley and waiting as the cops walked toward the warehouse only to stop as their sirens began to go off. John pulled his earbuds out, listening.

"All units, code three call receiving a report of an assault under the X Thirty Nine underpass," the voice said. "Possible non-human aggressor. Proceed with caution. CDC already en route. All area units respond."

"S-S-Someone was at-t-tacked by a l-l-lycan or v-v-vampire," John said, putting his earbuds back in. "This way." He turned, running away from the warehouses, Erika and Selene following, only for Selene to stop, holding a hand to her head, breathing harder. "Selene. You okay?"

"I'm...seeing something," Selene said. "I'm at an underpass."

"You're seeing the attack?" John asked. "Helpful yet confusing. Let's go. We'll figure out why once we're there. It's not far."

Selene nodded and they took off again, trying desperately to reach the underpass before the humans.

* * *

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	10. Chapter 10

I do not own Underworld or any of the characters.

* * *

Chase

John watched the cops examine the body. They were detectives, probably ones that specialized in homicide, or in tracking down criminals. Behind them, blocking the road, were normal cops, about a half dozen or so, nothing major. The body itself, however, had clearly been ripped apart by a Lycan. And a particularly savage one at that. The body's face, throat, and chest were all practically shredded. John's eyes shifted to the crowd watching and he grinned, spotting David.

"Well well, David's here," John smiled.

"Who?" Selene asked.

"One of the vampires in our new Coven," John said. "Selene, do you have any idea which way whatever you were seeing went?"

"No," Selene said. "When I escaped Antigen, one of the scientists ordered the security to let me go. I think I should pay him a visit."

"Good idea," John nodded. "While you're doing that, we'll check in with David."

Selene nodded. "Where should we meet back up?"

"The warehouse," John said. "How about an hour?"

"Okay," Selene nodded.

John nodded as well and Selene left. John and Erika walked down to the crowd, David meeting them at the edge.

"John," David greeted. "Erika."

"David," John nodded. "You watch anything interesting lately?"

"Nah," David said. "Missed the show. How about you? You find your medicine yet?"

"We ran into an old friend and got sidetracked," John said. "We'll find out soon, though."

David nodded and looked back at the body, speaking too quietly for anyone but John and Erika to hear. "There's no doubt that was a lycan. I can smell the thing from here. It's diseased and dirty, but it's still a lycan."

John nodded as well before looking the way Selene had gone, pulling his earbuds out. He could hear something. A snarling and yipping sound from somewhere in the city. David and Erika watched him carefully.

"I-I-I hear th-th-them," John said.

He turned, beginning to run and Erika and David followed. They ran through the city, using back alleys and side streets to avoid the police that were driving around still. After about ten minutes, John heard a voice shouting in fear before the sound of a car being pancaked by a body. They started to head that way only to duck into a back alley as a cop car passed. Then, they continued, finding a small opening in the wall labelled "U-7," which was wide open. They quickly hurried through it and John put his earbuds back in. They soon found themselves in a dirty hallway with large white sheets hanging along the walls in some places, large corrugated steel tubes lying around, pipes running along the ceiling, and water dripping to the floor every few seconds, making it feel like a sewer.

"Lovely place," David said.

"Yeah," John nodded. "Come on. She shouldn't have gone far."

They started along the hallway in silence, David drawing one of his blades as they did. However, after passing through a corrugated steel pipe, a low snarling reached their ears from behind and they spun, seeing a pair of lycans behind them. Raze was right. Their skin looked diseased and their fur was patchy, but they definitely looked to be eating well.

John stepped forward, extending his arm blades as they sprinted forward, snarling hungrily. One leapt at John and he stabbed it, turning and slamming it to the ground. As he ripped his blade upward and out through the Lycan's head, David stepped past him, spinning and splitting the other Lycan open several times across the stomach, chest, and throat before allowing it to crash to the ground. John retracted his blades and they quickly continued along the hallway, soon finding several dozen of the big white boxes with metal frames around them that oil used to come in, all of them empty. John vaulted over one, finding Selene crouched on the other side, aiming at him only to lower the pistol as she saw who it was. Erika and David followed John over and John introduced David and Selene to each other.

"Where to now?" John asked.

"This way," Selene said.

She stood, quickly jogging through the room they were now in, then through a hallway on the other side. After about a minute, she stopped at a small hallway, staring down it. John stepped up beside her and stared at the person they had found. A girl, maybe twelve at most with a white shirt and pants, white shoes, long wavy blonde hair, and who was curled into a ball against the far wall trembling.

"Do you know her?" David asked.

"No," Selene said.

"Holy shit," John breathed, walking forward and kneeling in front of the girl, who shied away from him, eyes wide with fear. "It's alright, I won't hurt you. We're here to help you."

He held out a hand, and the girl stared at it for several seconds before allowing him to help her up and lead her back to the others. John glanced at Selene before leading the girl past her and away from the sound of lycans in the distance. They quickly made their way through the hallways and rooms of wherever they were until they found a door. Once out of it, they climbed a set of stairs to a parking lot with several abandoned cars. John looked around, seeing the parking garage where he and Erika had parked about a block away.

"Hey, I need you to go with this guy, okay?" John said to the girl. "His name's David, and he'll take care of you until we get back."

The girl nodded, stepping away from John, David and Selene both turning to him.

"We'll catch up," John promised. "We just need to grab our bikes."

David nodded and John and Erika turned, sprinting away from them to the parking garage, hopping on their bikes and starting them up. They sped down to the street just in time to see a red van speed around a corner, three lycans behind them. John and Erika shot along the street after the others, slowly catching up to the lycans, who looked back at them and snarled. One roared, turning and leaping at John, who yanked his bike sideways, laying it down and clinging to it with his legs as he extended his blades, splitting the lycan's front open as it passed over him. Then, he retracted the blades and grabbed the handlebars, yanking the bike right side up again and speeding after the others, inspecting the road rash on his left leg as he did. Ahead of him, the two remaining lycans were leaping from car to car, trying to catch the van, only for whichever of the other two was driving to avoid them. After a moment, the van got stuck with a cab in front of it, and a car beside it. A lycan leapt at the van and the van jerked sideways, crashing into the car to its left as the lycan caught the edge of the roof, only to fall off, going under one of the tires of the car it had just jumped off of.

Finally, one of the lycans landed on the roof of the van, heading for the side door. The other, which had survived being run over, was on the side of a box truck, slowly gaining on the van. Erika drew her pistol and shot that lycan several times, knocking it off of the truck but not killing it. John swerved to the side, extending a blade and splitting its head in half as he passed. The lycan on the side opened the side door and began to reach inside, however, just as Erika swerved over so she could shoot it, it flipped inside. John gunned it, shooting forward until he hit the back of a car, launching himself forward to the van and catching it, yanking the door open just as the lycan bit down on the girl's neck and shoulder, the girl screaming instantly. John launching himself inside, smashing his foot into the lycan's neck, forcing it away from her, only for her flesh to turn blue as she lunged, driving her thumbs into its eye sockets and ripping its head in half the long way, hurling it out the back of the van. John stared at her in surprise and a hint of fear. Then, she sat back against the wall, breathing hard as her skin returned to normal. He knelt beside her, checking her wound, instantly noticing that, despite clearly being a hybrid, it wasn't healing.

"She's not healing," John reported. "David, we need to get her to the coven."

"Right," David nodded. "Try and do what you can for her."

John ripped his sleeve off, pressing it firmly to her wound and making her scream, though she thankfully didn't rip his head in half like the lycan. He stayed there, holding the sleeve to her wound to slow the bleeding, the rest of the way out of the city, watching as the life slowly drained out of her, despite his best efforts. Finally, David had Selene stop and they all got out, John quickly carrying her to the entrance of the coven, following David, Erika, and Selene. Once they had made it into the main area of their home, John set the girl down, pulling the blood soaked cloth away from her neck to inspect it, seeing that it still hadn't healed at all. He passed the cloth to Selene, ripping his other sleeve off and pressing it to the wound, the girl, who was barely conscious at this point, barely flinching this time.

"What do you want me to do with this?" Selene asked.

"Check her memories," John said. "Maybe you'll understand who she is then, or maybe you'll get a hint at where Michael is."

Selene nodded, squeezing some of the girl's blood into her mouth, her eyes rolling back into her head as she saw the girl's memories. However, once the images were done, Selene simply looked more confused than before. Suddenly, David's father, Thomas, arrived, berating David in Russian for breaking his rules and risking the safety of the coven.

"You have no reason to fear us," Selene spoke up, also using Russian.

"Do you think I'm foolish enough to take you at your word?" Thomas asked. "No reason to fear a Death Dealer who fell in love with a lycan, who murdered two of our elders, and who at every turn has betrayed her own kind? Or a Death Dealer who betrayed his own kind in order to help the lycans attempt to make a hybrid?"

"How do you know that," John said, pistol in hand already. "No one knew about that besides our group and...Amelia."

He saw the way Thomas stiffened at the mention of the last living elder.

"Where is she?" John asked, holstering the pistol. "Is she still alive?"

"That's none of your concern," Thomas said.

"Thomas, Amelia could help us greatly," John said. "If we make peace with Raze's pack-"

"Enough!" Thomas snapped. "I will hear no more of your treachery. You're lucky you're as good at fighting as you are or I'd have banished you long ago."

"Can we focus on the girl please?" David asked just as Olivia, the coven's resident medical professional, arrived. "She was attacked by a lower lycan. Two hours ago."

Olivia collected some of the girl's blood to examine, humming thoughtfully to herself. "Her cell repair is...active, but weakened. She has no...origin bite marks or scars." She turned the girl's head to one side, then the other. "I've never seen a child like this before. When did you last feed?"

"Feed?" the girl asked.

"Give her blood," Thomas said.

"Here," John said, biting his wrist and holding it out to the girl. "Drink. It'll help."

The girl looked to Selene in confusion and Selene nodded. The girl gripped John's arm, beginning to drink his blood, her hunger taking over almost instantly, her eyes turning black with glowing blue irises. John swallowed hard, suddenly feeling like giving a starving hybrid his arm as a food source might have been a bad idea. However, after several seconds, she released him, lying back and seeming to be dazed. Her neck healed completely within seconds.

"She's healing," Olivia reported. "And quickly."

"Good," David said. "Take her to my room. She needs to rest."

"No," Thomas said. "Look at the eyes."

Olivia leaned in to look at the girl's eyes and John turned to look around, finding Kahn standing beside Erika. Kahn tossed him a blood bag and John caught it, sipping at it. He turned to Thomas, who was glaring at the girl in a mixture of hate and disgust.

"What do you know of her?" Thomas asked.

"I was held captive at a place called Antigen," Selene said. "One of the other prisoners freed me. I believed it was Michael Corvin, the only hybrid that I knew existed at the time-"

"Yes yes, your lycan lover, long dead," Thomas interrupted. "What is this then?"

"None of your concern," Selene said. "As soon as she regains her strength I'll be leaving with her."

She turned, storming away, deeper into the coven, and after a moment, John followed. When he caught up with her, she was crying silently. He realized just how hard it must be to have been asleep for twelve years, to wake up and find that the entire world you knew was gone, along with the love of your life. She saw him enter and turned to leave, only for him to catch her hand.

"Selene, you don't have to hide anything," John said. "Not from me. I'm your friend."

Selene wiped her eyes and turned to him. "What is she?"

"You really haven't figured it out?" John asked.

"I need to be sure," Selene said.

"She's your daughter," John said. "You gave birth to her while you were being held by Antigen, and they raised her apart from you to use her to make a cure for our viruses. At least, that's what they're saying."

"Is that possible?" Selene asked.

"With a true hybrid?" John asked. "Maybe. But something just doesn't feel quite right. It feels like we're missing something. Something big."

Selene nodded in agreement. "David thinks I'll help the vampires regain control of the world, teach them to fight."

"He does," John nodded. "Thomas is afraid of the same thing. He once fought as a Death Dealer, apparently. He probably only hates you because you remind him of himself. No matter what happens, defend your daughter. And give her a name. Be her mother. She needs you as much as you need her."

Selene nodded, remaining silent.

"Damian will want to leave with us," John said. "That choice is up to you. I've been training him, so he's a good fighter. A lot of the members of the coven are good fighters."

Selene nodded and turned to John. "What should we do? I don't recognize this world anymore. But you've lived in it. You were there when it fell and you have been here since before then. Tell me what to do."

"We need to find Amelia and unite the vampire covens that survived," John said. "Then, we need to get in contact with Raze again and have him and Amelia finally make peace between the lycans and vampires. Once we can work together for real, we can work to get back into power in the human world so that it's safe for us to live without hiding again, like we used to."

Selene nodded. "And it all starts with protecting my daughter and finding out what Antigen is up to."

"That's right," John nodded.

The two of them headed to the armory, finding Erika and Kahn stocking up on ammunition. He checked his own ammunition, grabbing the RONII and Glock that he had left behind during the mission, slinging it across his back as he refilled all of his magazines and grabbed a couple more. He also filled an extended magazine with silver nitrate ammunition for each of them, handing them out, keeping one for David as well.

"Are we preparing to fight lycans?" Selene asked.

"We're preparing for anything," John said.

Selene nodded and took her ammunition and guns, leaving the room to find her daughter. As she did, Erika glanced at John, who looked up at her.

"What?" John asked.

"We never completed our mission," Erika said. "We have no way of knowing if the humans have a cure. What if they bring it here?"

"Then we'll have someone turn us later," John said. "Maybe the girl, if we feel like being hybrids. But that won't be a problem anyway, because they can't have a cure without her. They would need her blood in order to make the cure."

"You're sure?" Erika asked.

John walked around the table to her, turning her toward him and cupping her face. "Erika. I will not allow anyone to hurt you. I love you, and for as long as I draw breath, no one will lay a hand on you. I swear it. Even if, by some miracle, the humans manage to cure us, I will kill anyone I have to to protect you. Then, when this is over, we'll find someone to turn us back. Okay?"

Erika nodded, kissing him, and John smiled just as he hear something like metal hitting metal in the distance. He pulled his earbuds out and sniffed, listening. He heard claws, and snarling. He smelled rotting flesh and wet dog.

"L-L-Lycans," he growled, sprinting out of the armory, the others following with their weapons.

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	11. Chapter 11

I do not own Underworld or any of the characters.

* * *

Assault.

As John and the others reached the main chamber, they found the coven was split. Half were going to the shelter to hide, the other half heading for the armory. In the middle, David and Thomas were arguing about which to do.

"Lycans!" John shouted, everyone looking over at him. "It's not humans! It's lycans!"

Those heading for the armory took off at a dead sprint while the others did the same toward the shelter. David swore loudly, turning to get to the armory only for John to slap a mag of silver nitrate ammo into his chest, David catching it.

"Use it wisely," John said. "Be careful."

David nodded as vampires began to surge back into the room, taking up posts around the room, aiming at the only entrance. John, Erika, Kahn, and David stood front and center, all aiming at the door as well. Then, there was silence. Oppressive, suffocating, terrifying silence. John knew that not a single vampire in the coven, minus himself, Erika, Kahn, and Thomas, had ever actually fought lycans. David had been there when they had fought the handful that were after Selene's daughter, but this would be entirely different from that. That was quick, easy. This would be a long, bloody battle.

Just as John sensed everyone beginning to grow impatient and nervous, something exploded outside the main chamber, sending dust and debris flying through the entrance. A lycan leapt through the door and into a hail of bullets, more beginning to flood out of it. John and his group in the center held fire. The silver bullets everyone else was using was doing well at holding back the lycans. However, soon, they would have to reload. Sure enough, just as the bodies of lycans began to cover the floor, the guns around the room began to run dry. Lycans surged through the door, John and the others opening fire. They all placed their bullets carefully, each bullet dropping a lycan. However, the lycans began to enter with more and more numbers, faster and faster. Soon, John's gut dropped as his magazine ran dry. He yanked it out, shoving in a magazine of normal silver rounds and opened fire again, seeing Kahn doing the same with his M4. Then, Erika and David both had to reload. Sixty three. Between the four of them, they had had sixty three silver nitrate bullets. And yet, still more lycans flooded through. There were easily more than a hundred dead already. An army. Raze was right.

John's magazine ran dry again and he slung the gun behind himself, drawing his P99 and opening fire. As he did, David's pistol jammed. John tossed his colt to David instantly, who caught it and opened fire with it, shoving his own pistol down the side of his leg and forcing it to rack, ejecting the stuck round before firing with that one too. John's pistol ran dry and he yanked the mag, swapping it for another full one and slammed the full one in as a lycan leapt at him. He extended his arm blade, flipping over the lycan and splitting its upper body vertically in half, then landed on his foot and one knee, continuing to fire. Just as he reloaded again, however, lycans exploded through the door in a solid wall, the rest of the room finally opening fire again, dropping them rapidly but not nearly fast enough. Lycans scrambled across the floor, walls, ceiling, each other. They filled the room, rapidly flooding toward everyone.

"Fall back!" John shouted, hurling a silver grenade and turning, sprinting into a tunnel with the others as the grenade exploded, halting the lycan for a couple of seconds, filling the room with silver dust and giving the vampires a chance to retreat.

"Where the hell did they come from!?" David shouted as they ran.

"Someone's been raising an army!" John said. "Raze was right!"

They reached a chamber like the one they had just left but smaller and with more entrances, turning to wait for the lycans as vampire began to stream into the room. However, since the others hadn't been in the armory when the lycans arrived, they hadn't been able to stock up on ammo like John's group, and now had probably only the magazine left in their weapons. As such, several had grabbed bladed weapons like swords, spears, axes. David had even grabbed a razor whip off of the wall to go with his usual bladed weapons.

"Don't let them through!" John shouted.

Almost as if on cue, lycans began to stream into the room, now sporting burns from the silver. However, as they entered, bullets cut them down rapidly. At least, for a few seconds. Then, guns began to run dry and hit the ground. John and his group continued shooting until their guns ran dry as well before separating, everyone but David reloading as they ran. John tucked his pistol away, reloading his Glock but leaving it behind him, and extended his arm blades. He sprinted toward an opening, slashing his way through lycan as they tried to enter. Kahn ran for a specific defensive measure he had installed on the off chance that something like this happened. A moment later, his minigun roared to life, bullets shredding their way through lycans that tried to enter, holding them back for the most part, though numerous slipped through. The rest of the coven tried to fight, and for the most part they did well. John's training went to work instantly, the coven members he had trained moving quickly and efficiently, slicing their way through lycans in an attempt to defend those John hadn't trained. But after a bit, the lycans began to pick them off, one or two at a time. Then, three bull-rushed David, smashing him into a wall.

John yanked his pistol out only to have to spin and slash two that tried to get him from behind. As he turned back to David, David slashed one Lycan's throat, stabbing another down through the top of the head, but the third bit down on David's shoulder, David screaming in agony. John fired, placing a bullet in the lycan's brain and dropping it, David crashing to the floor, bleeding heavily. Then, John put his pistol away, slashing a lycan that leapt at him, knocking it aside. He glanced at David, seeing him standing and holding his blades again, turning and running down a side alley from which John could hear screaming.

John turned back to the front just as a lycan slashed him across the chest, ripping his headphones and mp3 off of him and knocking him to the ground. He cursed, rolling over as the Lycan leapt at him. He raised his blades and the lycan impaled itself on them. He shoved it off just as two more leapt at him, only for Erika to crash into one, knocking it into the other and both away from John before peppering them with bullets.

"John!" Erika shouted, lifting him, John nodding. "Kahn! Music!"

Kahn stomped on a switch at his feet and music began to scream from speakers all around him, John sighing in relief as he felt his body still.

"Best upgrade we made," John said.

Erika nodded just as a deafening roar echoed from down one of the tunnels. John quickly darted to his mp3, picking it up and checking it. It wasn't damaged but the cord for the headphones had been cut. He yanked out what was left, plugging in his spare set and slipped the mp3 into his pocket. Just as he did, Selene walked back into the rotunda, looking around at the speakers, then at John. Then, she looked to the side, to the same tunnel he and Erika were staring at.

"What was that?" Selene shouted over the music.

"We're about to find out!" John shouted back.

The flood of lycans had stopped, all inside having been killed off, finally, but John felt more fear now than he had when he had seen the wall of lycans coming. Then, the tunnel's entrance exploded off and a lycan walked through that stood more than double the height of the others. John, Erika, and Selene all opened fire on it, bullets slamming into it as Kahn opened fire with his minigun as well. The lycan roared, grabbing a massive chunk of stone and hurling it at Kahn, who dove out of the way just before the minigun was crushed. The other three's pistols ran dry and they lowered them slowly, putting them away as they watched the lycan's wounds heal. Selene sprinted to the side, toward a silver sword with a bladed guard that was impaled in a lycan off to the side.

As she did, the lycan swiped Erika and John aside, hurling them across the room and stomping after Selene, doing the same to her. As it swung a pair of fists down to crush her, she dove to the side, grabbing the weapon and spun, holding it out just in time for the lycan to hit it, slicing off his own fingers. It roared, backing away a few steps as John watched it. Its fingers regrew in a matter of seconds and Selene spun, sprinting away. John shot forward, extending his arm blades and slashed the backs of the lycan's knees, dropping it then leaping away from it as it swung at him. As he did, Selene flipped over the lycan, driving her blade deep into its back and snapping it off, landing in a roll beside John, watching the lycan. The wound sealed itself, blade and all, and the lycan spun, smashing both of them sideways into a wall. John crashed into a pillar as Selene smashed through a wall of wood, dropping into a trench below them and being left unconscious.

"John!" Erika screamed.

"Get out of here!" John shouted, diving sideways away from the lycan. "We can't kill this thing right now! Get the girl and get out of here! You too Kahn!"

Kahn sprinted to Erika, grabbing her and sprinting out of the room. As they ran, John sprinted at the lycan again, dropping into a slide as it swiped at him, using his arm blades to remove the lycan's hand at the wrist before slashing his groin from below. The lycan roared in agony, mule kicking John into a wall, fracturing it and John's back, before staggering forward, healing more slowly than before but still much faster than John could. Once healed, it turned back to John and roared, its hand finishing regrowing as it picked up a massive boulder.

"Damn," John sighed. "And here I am paralyzed."

The lycan stepped forward, pulling the stone back only to stop, looking to the side.

"That's enough!" Thomas shouted. "Take the girl and leave this place!"

"What are you doing!?" John shouted.

"Well?" Thomas asked. "She _is_ what you're after, isn't she?"

The lycan tossed its stone aside, taking the girl from Thomas before roaring, retreating through the tunnel it had entered through. John tried to push himself up only for his back to explode into agony, robbing him of consciousness.

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	12. Chapter 12

I do not own Underworld or any of the characters.

* * *

Recruiting

John looked up at Selene as she walked toward him and the others, all of them sitting or kneeling around David, who was barely alive. Thomas sat over his son in silence.

"Where is she?" Selene asked.

"They took her," David said.

"They accepted her," Thomas corrected. "As a gift from me."

Selene's eyes widened and she ignored John as he told her that the girl was gone. John looked back down at David, who stared up at him silently, his eyes beginning to dull.

"Rest," John said. "You've earned it. You did well."

David managed a weak smile before slipping away, smile fading. As Thomas reached down and closed David's eyes, Selene stormed back in.

"Do you even know what you've done?" Selene demanded. "Do you have any idea?"

"What would you have me do?" Thomas asked, standing and beginning to walk away. "Fight to the last to protect the very one who brought this upon us? We're defeated. Our coven is destroyed, my son is dead...because of you. Why? Because he helped that child of yours. If they kill her, so be it."

"Your son died because he was fighting for all of you," Selene said. "Because he knew that running is not survival. Those were lycans. Not extinct. More powerful than ever. That thing was more than twice the size of any lycan I've ever seen."

"And immune to silver," John added.

"They risked showing themselves after more than a decade in hiding because of her," Selene said. "And you handed her over to them. She is the last direct descendent of Alexander Corvinus. The only hybrid child that has ever existed. Whatever it is the lycans want from her...your son knew it was worth dying for."

Selene walked to David's side, pulling up his shirt and cutting his abdomen open, then cutting her palm.

"What are you doing?" Thomas asked.

Selene pushed her hand into David, watching him carefully. Then, after a moment, she squeezed his heart, David waking up instantly. Selene pulled her hand back out and his wounds sealed themselves.

"David," Thomas breathed, staring at his once again living son in shock.

Selene stood, turning and walking out of the coven. John stood, he, Erika, and Kahn following. After about three minutes, they caught up with her just outside.

"Selene," John said, Selene turning to him.

"What?" Selene snapped. "If you're going to tell me we shouldn't try to save her too-"

"Oh shut the fuck up, Selene," John said. "I fought that thing too. I know how dangerous that is. But that thing wasn't just big. it was immune to silver, as I said earlier. What lycans have ever been able to figure out how to do that?"

"None," Selene said.

"Exactly," John said. "The only lycan to ever be immune to silver was Michael."

"So you're saying that thing was, what?" Selene asked. "Some sort of hybrid?"

"I am," John said. "But not a vampire and lycan hybrid like Michael or Marcus. It was something else."

"Regardless of what kind of hybrid it was, it would have to have Corvinus's DNA to make," Selene said. "Which means they have Michael."

"Maybe," John said. "But I doubt it. There's one other, much more likely scenario."

"What?" Selene asked.

"They had your daughter," Erika said.

"No, Antigen had..." Selene trailed off.

"It would explain why there were so many without anyone noticing, how they knew that you had her at all, and how there could be a mutant lycan," John said. "They used your daughter's DNA to mutate it."

Selene nodded. "Okay. We'll go to Antigen. But first, there's someone whose help we'll need."

"Who?" John asked.

"A detective who's been asking questions, and who has been investigating me," Selene said.

John nodded and they all got onto motorcycles, speeding off into the city. As they drove, John allowed Selene to lead. They parked in the same parking garage he and Erika always used, then headed for one near the police department. They spotted the detective's car and waited until he parked, silently moving to it, staying in the shadows and crawling across the ceiling, something John had never particularly cared for. Selene silently dropped to the ground first, the detective stopping and looking back before turning back around only to find Selene's gun in his face. John and Erika dropped, forming a triangle around him.

"A force of two hundred lycans attacked and destroyed one of our covens last night," Selene said, seeing that the level of surprise the man had failed to border on disbelief. "You're not as surprised as you should have been. You knew the lycans weren't extinct. How?"

"Just a feeling," the man said.

"I'm not good with feelings," Selene said. "I want to know how."

"This is not the place for this," the man said.

"You look familiar," John said. "Have we met before?"

"No," the man said. "But you're not going to kill me."

"Really?" Selene asked.

"No," the man said. "Because you wouldn't need a fucking gun to do it."

Selene narrowed her eyes before lowering her gun. The detective led them inside and to a library of sorts, locking the door behind them.

"There are no cameras or microphones in here," the man said. "We can have privacy as long as we keep our voices down."

"You're not afraid of being in a locked room with three vampires without any way to call for help?" John asked. "You carry UV rounds, don't you?"

The detective pulled his pistol, ejecting the mad and setting it down, displaying its lead bullets. "A few years ago, the government declared 'mission accomplished' on lycans. The feds announced that we were to only focus on your kind months ago a friend of mine sent me this."

He set a book in front of the three vampires, Selene opening it. John and Erika looked, seeing pages upon pages of blood test results, all marked as negative.

"It arrived two days after he was found hanging from his own ceiling fan," the detective said. "Two hundred cases of suspected lycan captures. Every case was investigated, every blood test came back negative. So my friend began to wonder, were they all false leads or was someone trying to protect the lycans. Helping them replenish their packs, letting them regroup."

"Clearly your friend was right," John said. "As we said, an army of around two hundred wiped out our base, though we made it cost them dearly."

"I'm sure," the detective said. "If someone wanted to break into my home and kill my family, I'd damn sure make them regret it."

John nodded as a memory clicked. A view of a vampire burning to death inside of her own home before the humans could get the door open. A much younger man watching as his wife chose to die her own way.

"Your wife," John said, the detective looking up at him. "That's why."

The detective remained silent.

"What about your own department?" Selene asked. "Could they be the ones helping the lycans?" Upon receiving no answer, she continued. "They have my daughter. All I care about is getting her back."

The detective stared at the table.

"If you're protecting someone I don't care," Selene said. "I'm not after them, I just want her."

"No," the detective said. "Even if there are others in my department they wouldn't have the authority."

"It's Antigen," John said. "If the tests were tampered with, it could either come from the very highest levels of government, or from the lowest. One of the lycans we fought was mutated. Immune to silver and more than double the size of any other lycan in history. Antigen could falsify their own test results. At the same time, they could hide a vampire, and at least one hybrid in cold storage inside of their facilities, using the hybrid's blood to make a stronger lycan."

The detective thought for a moment before nodding. "It makes sense."

"I guess you were right after all," Selene said. "We'll need your help. Does your department still have silver weapons?"

The detective nodded.

"Good," Erika said. "We're going to need a lot."

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	13. Chapter 13

I do not own Underworld or any of the characters.

* * *

Rescue

John slammed his mag into his Glock, chambering one round before ejecting the mag and putting another round in. Silver Nitrate, as were all of his other mags, save for two. He slung the glock behind himself in its RONII, then chambered a round in his P99 and put the his other extra round in the magazine, reinserting the magazine. He glanced to the side at Erika, who was holding a pair of the same pistols a the humans used, having traded her Glock, which had broken when a chunk of debris fell on it, for them. She nodded to him and he smiled slightly, nodding back.

The two of them not being immune to sunlight like Selene, were seated in the back of a box truck, waiting for Detective Sebastian to get it to a door into Antigen. The first step was easy. Selene would walk straight into the elevator at the front. In doing so, she would get the entire building's occupants after her. The second step would be trickier. Sebastian would have to find a door wide enough to crash the back of a box truck through, but that wouldn't leave them in sunlight when they got out. After a few more minutes, they stopped, gunfire erupting after about two minutes. Then, they were moving again.

"Hold on," Sebastian said over the radio he would be using, Selene, Erika, and John each having an earbud that allowed them to hear him.

Suddenly, the truck lurched into motion, backing up quickly before crashing into a wall and coming almost to a stop before rolling a ways. Finally, the truck stopped and John kicked the door, blasting it off of the truck, revealing the inside of a building, the room being clear of both sunlight and lycans. They hopped out, walking away from the truck, John glancing back and seeing Sebastian leaving it there. They reached an elevator and got in, closing the doors and looking at the buttons. Selene would be heading to level six, leaving sticky bombs that scattered silver dust into the air the entire way. Their job was to secure an escape route, as well as keeping anyone from leaving, with or without the girl.

John pressed the parking garage button and leaned against the wall, waiting patiently, smirking as the elevator lurched with the explosion. Erika shook her head slightly, grinning as well.

"We never really do anything in half measures do we?" Erika asked.

"Nope," John smiled, the smile fading after a moment. "Remember, the mutant lycan belongs to me and Selene."

"And anyone else is fair game, I know," Erika smiled. "I'll look after the girl."

John smiled and nodded. Finally, their elevator reached the level with the parking garage, about two floors down due to Sebastian having taken them to a spot where they would be on the second floor, the door opening and a lycan lunging through, only to die on John's blades instantly. He retracted the blades and allowed the lycan to fall to the ground as he drew his Colt, the only gun loaded with normal silver rounds.

"I'm here," Sebastian said, meaning at the security consoles out front. "I've got movement on a van in parking level three. No sign of the girl."

"We've reached level one," John said. "We'll head it off."

"They'll be on the move," Selene said. "Just don't lose them."

John stepped around a corner and his arm snapped up, firing and dropping a pair of guards. Erika stepped out after him and they began to head for the ramp quickly.

"She's in the service elevator," Selene said suddenly.

"The only exit for that is parking level two," John reported. "We'll meet them there. Be careful. The big guy will be after you."

"He's already here," Selene said. "I'm coming down."

"Try to be quick," John said.

He and Erika took off at a sprint, reaching level 2 and ducking behind a pair of pillars as the guards around the door leading to the service elevator opened fire. After a moment, both stepped out, opening fire as well. John's silver bullets took a couple of shots to kill the guards, since they were all lycans, but they dropped rapidly from Erika's silver nitrate munitions. Finally, the last of them dropped and John ejected the mag, swapping it for the other and leaning against a pillar as he reloaded the mag he had been using, Erika doing the same.

"Done," Erika said.

"Done," John said half a second after Erika. "Damn. Almost had you."

They tucked the magazines away just as the door swung open, two nurses and the director of Antigen all stopping, the girl on a stretcher between them.

"Hello," John said, shooting both nurses in the head, killing them, before shooting at the director but missing.

He leapt over the girl, transforming as he landed in front of the two vampires, standing slightly taller than Raze when Raze transformed, while also being brown rather than the usual black or blue. Most importantly, though was the fact that he looked almost human, like when Michael and Marcus were transformed. The director smashed John aside, then dove under a shot from Erika, standing and push-kicking her away.

"Okay," John said, rolling onto his back. "Someone's been taking anti-silver steroids."

The director, Jacob Lane, John thought he was named, turned to him as John stood, shooting him several times, the silver seeming to not affect Jacob at all as Jacob sprinted toward John, slashing at him with his claws. John flipped over the claws, however, and extended his left arm blade, slashing Jacob's arm off at the mid bicep, only for it to rapidly grow back. He growled in annoyance.

"I found Michael!" Selene said suddenly, gunfire echoing behind her voice.

"Save him," John said. "We can handle things here."

Just as he said this, Jacob smashed him through a pillar, John grunting as he bounced off the ground then rolled to a stop.

"Son of a bitch," John growled. "Try this asshole!" He rolled shooting three silver nitrate rounds into Jacob's chest, Jacob roaring and staggering backward, clawing at his chest.

He tossed all three rounds away, bending over and vomiting slate-colored blood onto the ground, then straightened up, thin lines of slate-colored flesh snaking across his skin. The silver nitrate had stopped, however, and wasn't killing him anymore, but now John knew how to kill him. Jacob roared, then spun as Erika aimed at him. Before she could fire, he leapt into the air, flipping over her and landing behind her, hurling her into John before throwing the stretcher into the van and climbing in, speeding off. John aimed after him but stopped as he sped toward the ramp to level one. John and Erika both took off at a sprint after him, reaching level one just as Sebastian shot out one of the van's tires, making it crash into a pillar.

"Good job Sebastian," John said, jogging toward the van, only to find that Jacob was gone. "Shit."

Then, a pair of brown hands grabbed him from under the van, dragging him under. He shoved off the ground, slipping under Jacob less than a second before Jacob could bite a chunk out of his neck, then rolled over, aiming at Jacob only for Jacob's foot to crash into his face, hurling him backward, his P99 skidding across the ground. He crashed into the side of a pillar and groaned, pushing himself up before leaping away from the pillar, a car crashing into it, folding around it with the force. John rolled to his feet, yanking the RONII around and sighting in as the mutant lycan walked into the room on all fours, snarling.

"Let's see just how immune you are," John growled, unloading the Glock's magazine into the lycan, earning a pained roar.

The lycan charged forward, roaring and swiping at him, only for John to roll under the arm, ejecting the mag and slamming another in, firing several bullets into the lycan's head, more into its torso. Then, the lycan's arm crashed into his side, launching him away from itself. John flipped, crashing into the side of a car and denting it inward almost to the other side. He dropped to the ground, coughing up blood before feeling himself begin to heal. He looked up at the lycan as it began forward again. He raised his RONII, emptying the remaining rounds into the lycan as well, making it a total of forty silver nitrate rounds emptied into it, before dropping the RONII, extending his blades. The lycan roared, charging and slashing at John, only for John to flip, slashing it across the face as he passed over it, then landing on the ground the lycan mule kicking him and sending him flying across the room again. More silver nitrate bullets began to hit the lycan and it roared, turning to Erika, Jacob lying against the wall a short distance from her, several bullet holes in his chest, each leaking silver nitrate.

The mutant lycan charged at Erika and she placed several rounds in its head before dropping, sliding backward under a car and standing, leaping onto the car then off of it and over the lycan as it rammed into the car, trying to crush her between it and the roof of the van behind it. As she landed, she spun, the lycan lunging, meaning to bite her. Instead, John shoved a chunk of concrete into its mouth. It smashed both aside, struggling to get the concrete out, eventually ripping its own teeth out to do it. The teeth grew back in and it roared angrily, John taking one of Erika's pistols, both of them emptying the pistols into the lycan then reloading and beginning to do it again. He seemed to be slowing down now, though it could be a trick. But either way, when it moved to charge them, both managed to slide under it rather than being flattened like normal. As they stood, the creature turned, swiping at them only for John's blades to remove its arm halfway up the forearm. Then, Erika finished emptying both pistols into his chest on full-auto.

The lycan smashed both aside with its other arm, roaring as its arm regrew, all of the bullet holes suddenly releasing a surge of silver nitrate, emptying its body before he shrunk back down into his human form, a muscular white guy a few inches taller than John with a scraggly beard and mustache and short, curly brown hair. Suddenly, a deafening shriek filled the air as Selene's daughter charged the man, his right arm mutating and batting her aside. Just as she landed, Jacob appeared over her, grabbing her by the throat.

"I thought you killed him," John said.

"So did I," Erika said.

Just then, David stepped out of a door beside the girl and Jacob, racking a pump-action shotgun and blasting half of Jacob's face off, making him stagger to the side, away from the girl. She was on him in the blink of an eye, grabbing him by the mouth, one hand on the upper jaw and one hand on the lower jaw, then twisted, snapping the top half of his head around backward. John turned back to the mutant lycan, then looked to the side, seeing his P99. He walked over, picking it up and checking the ammo. He smirked, turning back to the lycan again and raising the pistol, Erika aiming both of her freshly reloaded ones at him. He smirked, opening his arms invitingly. Both opened fire, pumping bullet after bullet into him, his skin rapidly turning a dark, metallic grey as his veins filled to bursting with silver nitrate. Then, once they had both emptied their pistols, the silver began to drain back out again, his blood vessels healing themselves.

"You can't kill me," he said. "Even with silver nitrate rounds, though I commend you for your effort. My father worked hard to make me silver proof."

"Father?" John asked. "Oh, so then that would make you Quint, right? Pleasure to meet you Quint. My name's John."

"What are you playing at?" Quint snarled.

Just then, Selene stepped around him, driving her fist, and the silver nitrate grenade inside of it, into his abdomen before ripping her hand back out, leaving the grenade. As he turned to attack her, she jumped, smashing both feet into his face and hurling him backward into the thin, one-person-wide hallway that led to the service elevator. Just as Quint began to stand, the grenade exploded, his chest lighting up for a moment before he roared in agony, beginning to expand and mutate, quickly filling the hallway before being crushed as his body continued to try to expand to its full size. Finally, there was a sickening crunch and his head fell limp. Then, his body began to glow before exploding into paste, splattering across everything within ten feet of the door.

"Why didn't we think of that?" John asked.

"Because I'm the better fighter," Selene said, looking around.

She spotted her daughter and sprinted to her, hugging her, as John knelt beside Sebastian, helping him up.

"You alright?" John asked.

"Yeah," Sebastian nodded. "My head's a bit sore, but I'll live."

"Selene," John said. "Where's Michael?"

"I woke him up," Selene said. "Come on. He's this way."

They all ran through the building, Sebastian staying behind to send the cops, whose sirens they could hear getting closer, the wrong way. After a few minutes, they reached a room with a broken and empty stasis pod and Selene looked around.

"Dammit," Selene said.

Just then, the girl gasped, eyes widening as she held a hand to her head. After a moment, she looked up at Selene. "The roof."

They all sprinted to the roof, only to find it deserted already. John rushed to the side of it, looking down and yanking his earbuds out, but all he heard was the sounds of the city. Cars, horns, TVs. Michael was already gone.

* * *

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	14. Chapter 14

I do not own Underworld or any of the characters.

* * *

Invitation

John leaned against the wall of the tunnel and slid to the ground. Being on the run from everyone wasn't nearly all it was cracked up to be. It seemed like forever ago that they had taken down Antigen, but it was barely two months. They hadn't seen or heard from anyone, even Kahn and Cynthia, since they had fled Antigen. With each day that passed, John's wish to live a peaceful, secluded life with Erika and Cynthia seemed more and more like a pipe dream.

"You okay?" Erika asked.

"Yeah," John said. "Just a little tired is all. We've been on the move for a few days now."

Erika nodded, kneeling in front of him, taking his hands in her own and smiling. "We'll be okay. Someday, we'll find Kahn and Cynthia again, and then we'll find a house in the middle of nowhere to live. Just the three of us."

John smiled, thumbs brushing over her fingers. "I hope so. I miss the old days. When we all lived in the mansion, and my biggest problem was trying to win your heart from Kraven."

Erika smiled, kissing his hands. "Well, now you have it. And I'm not going to let you give up."

She pulled John to his feet just as Selene walked out of the tunnel, supporting David. John smiled upon seeing a familiar face who wasn't Erika or Selene. He loved traveling with the two, especially Erika, but seeing a different face was practically a godsend for his mood.

"David!" John cheered, jogging over with Erika, then stopping seeing the pain on David's face. "You hurt?"

"I got shot with something," David said. "There's a safe house about three blocks away."

"Finally, someplace other than a ditch to stay in!" John groaned. "You know Selene, when you said you wanted to fight them alone, I didn't think you'd bring David back with you."

"Neither did I," Selene said.

They reached a car that John and Erika had broken into and hot-wired while Selene was fighting and John opened a door, allowing Selene and David to get into the back while John got behind the wheel, Erika sitting beside him. They started off down the road and David gave them directions to the safe house. About five minutes later, they reached the safe house and John and Erika threw the door open, stepping in and quickly clearing the safe house out. Once it was clear, Selene and David entered, John securing the door again. Once in, Selene set David on a medical table, going to work.

"So, what've we missed?" John asked.

"Some of the larger covens have managed to get their feet under them again," David said. "My father's gone to one of them."

"Larger covens?" John asked.

"Ones that weren't in a big city," David said. "Old castles and mansions set into the country side where there were no humans to rat them out."

John nodded. "Which one is he going to?"

"The Eastern Coven," David said.

John nodded. "I see. It's a fortress. What about Kahn and Cynthia?"

"They stayed at the ruins of the Western Coven," David said. "What few of the survivors that stayed are there as well."

"And the humans?" John asked.

"Without Antigen, and with the knowledge that Antigen was a lycan organization, as evidenced by security footage of the employees and guards being burned to death by silver nitrate gas, the humans have become too suspicious of each other to bother hunting us," David said, wincing as Selene prodded at the bullet hole. "Easy. Anyway. The humans don't actively hunt our kind much anymore. They're not really a problem. Plus, all of your faces have mysteriously disappeared from the world."

"Good," John nodded.

"Do you know where Eve is?" David asked.

"Fuck know," David snorted. "If Selene can't tell you where to find her daughter, how could I? I woke up one night to travel and Eve was gone."

"I see," David nodded. "Okay. Ow!"

"Oh shut up," Selene said. "I barely touched you."

She pulled the bullet out finally, staring at it. It had ridges twisted around it like a drill, with a tiny, self-propelled drill on the tip of it, previously having been burrowing into David faster than he could heal.

"Neat," John said. "Bet that hurt."

"Just a bit," David said sarcastically. "What is it?"

"I don't know," Selene said.

"Break it," John said. "Better safe than sorry."

Selene nodded, setting it on the ground and picking up a hammer, smashing the object into pieces. David's abdomen sealed and he sat up, pulling his shirt the rest of the way off, grabbing a clean one from a dresser off to the side, pulling it on after cleaning the blood off.

"Thank you," David said.

"You're welcome," Selene said, not looking away from the gear she was preparing.

"We're not staying here for tonight, are we?" John guessed.

"No," Selene said. "We're going to keep moving."

"But this is a safe house!" John said. "It's _safe_! And it's not a ditch!"

Selene stared at him before looking to Erika, who nodded. Selene sighed. "Fine. We'll stay one day. _One_ day. But as soon as the sun sets we're moving again. Understood?"

"Got it," John nodded, grinning widely.

Within moments, he and Erika had chosen one of the two bedrooms and had shut and locked the door, both instantly jumping in the shower. Once they were clean, they lay on the bed, holding each other and simply enjoying having a bed to lay in. John's hand gently stroked Erika's back as she lay on his chest, earning a quiet sigh.

"It feels like forever since we've been able to just relax," Erika said.

"Yeah," John nodded. "It's been almost a month since we had a bed to sleep in."

Erika nodded, smiling, before looking up at him, smiling seductively. She slid up, kissing him and moaning as his tongue instantly met hers, his arms holding her against him tightly.

"I was wondering when you'd get tired of indulging me," John smiled.

"I still don't understand how you can enjoy cuddling more than sex," Erika smiled, sitting up and settling onto his member, moaning as she did.

"Because it lets me be just as close to you without being sweaty and smelly," John smiled, Erika beginning to move. "Not that I would ever refuse you."

Erika smiled, bending down and kissing him before rolling them over. John smiled into the kiss, taking the lead and lacing his fingers with hers on both hands.

* * *

John sighed as his hand trailed up and down Erika's back, Erika cuddling into his side, head on his shoulder. "I love you."

"I love you too," Erika smiled. "So, tell me again about this dream of yours."

"Well, there's you and me, and Cynthia," John said. "We all live in the middle of the woods in a log cabin mansion."

"Oh, so it's a log cabin mansion?" Erika grinned.

"Why not?" John shrugged. "And, of course, we'll bring Kahn so we have food."

"So we'll have to find Kahn someone to sleep with," Erika smiled.

"Obviously," John said. "And then the five of us will live happily ever after."

"I see," Erika nodded. "Well, there's only one thing wrong with that dream."

"What's that?" John asked.

Erika sat up, straddling his lap and taking one of his hands in hers, stroking his palm with her fingers for several moments.

"Erika?" John asked, starting to get worried.

Erika smiled and slowly moved his hand to her stomach. John's brow furrowed in confusion before understanding flooded him. His mouth fell open and he stared up at her.

"You're...you're sure?" John asked, Erika nodding.

"I've been trying to figure out how to tell you for weeks," Erika said. "And before you ask, yes, I took a test. Four, actually. All positive."

John stared at her. Tears slowly formed in his eyes before he sat up, kissing her passionately, Erika returning the kiss. After several moments, they separated as the door flew open, Selene standing there, an exasperated look on her face.

"Privacy?" John said.

"Intruders," Selene said flatly then disappeared out through the door.

John and Erika shot off of the bed, getting dressed in clean clothes that were essentially the same as their last outfits, then grabbed their guns and headed out to the main room, finding all of the lights off. As they silently moved through the room, five people entered, aiming around with rifles bearing flashlights, giving away their position.

 _Sloppy,_ John thought as he closed in on one of them.

Four of the vampires shouted in surprise, their lights jerking upward as Selene and David took them down rapidly. Just as they did, John grabbed the last one, one with a hood up and no gun, and slammed them to the floor, holding his P99 to her face as he shone a flashlight at them, freezing, eyes wide.

"Alexia?" John breathed.

"John!" Alexia gasped.

She sat up instantly, hugging him as the other three that John was traveling with watched. After a moment, Erika cleared her throat and John stood, helping Alexia up and turning to Erika.

"Erika, this is Alexia," John introduced. "She's my sister."

Everyone stared at him like he was crazy, Alexia staring at the ground shyly.

"What?" Erika asked.

"She's my sister," John repeated. "She looked after me when we were young. But my disorder, as a human, was a fatal one. One day, while I was lying in the hospital, she was attacked by vampires and nearly killed. But she survived and became a vampire. Out of desperation to save me, she turned me. The disorder became the stutter and shaking you all know."

"What was it as a human?" Erika asked.

"I couldn't do anything," John said. "At all. My body just wouldn't respond so I could barely do anything."

"It sounds like you've finally gotten over it, though," Alexia smiled.

"Oh no," John said, pulling his earbud out. "W-W-With th-th-the m-m-music, I'm j-j-j-j-just like b-b-b-before."

"Music?" Alexia asked, picking up his unused earbud and listening, a knowing grin spreading over her face. "Oh, I see. Smart."

"Thanks," he smiled, earbud once again in his ear. "The only problem is that in a fight, lycans sometimes catch the cord."

"True," she nodded.

"What are you doing here?" John asked.

"I was sent by the Eastern Coven," Alexia said. "To find Selene."

Selene aimed at her but John stepped in between them, Selene growling in annoyance.

"Why?" John asked.

"The council sent me to bring her in," Alexia said.

"For trial?" Selene asked.

"No," Alexia said. "For your safety. And for ours."

"You cannot expect me to believe that," Selene snorted. "Every single one of them signed my death warrant. And your brother's."

"This is from your father," Alexia said, holding a large envelope out to David.

He opened it, scanning its contents.

"Is it authentic?" Selene asked.

"Yes," David nodded. "The council has offered you both clemency and offered us all safe haven."

"Why?" Selene asked.

"Marius," Alexia said. "It is the council's humble request that you train us to defeat him and his army."

"Marius, as in, the leader of the massive lycan army that's been hunting us?" John asked, Alexia nodding. "Good. I'll happily kill him. But I'm going to need help. And a treaty."

Alexia looked confused and John shook his head. "It's not important now. Selene?"

"Do you trust her?" Selene asked.

"With my life," John nodded. "She's saved it several times over."

Selene sighed just as the intruder alarm began to sound again. They all rushed to the console, seeing lycans in their human forms and with guns heading through the tunnels toward the safe house. John glanced at the broken bullet pieces, now in a trash can.

"Tracker," John said. "Time to decide."

"We'll accept," Selene said.

Alexia nodded and they all sprinted to the stair well leading out of the safe house's back door, getting to the street and breaking into several cars. John got in with Erika and Alexia, John sitting in the passenger seat, Erika in the back seat.

"So, what have you been up to?" John asked.

"I serve Semira," Alexia said. "I'm her right hand."

"You mean her servant," John corrected.

"You've been without a proper coven for too long, John," Alexia said. "Everyone's a servant of someone."

"Yeah, that's why I hated living in a coven," John said, pulling his earbuds out for a moment and sniffing, rubbing the bottom of his nose with his fingers and putting the earbuds back in. "I can't wait to catch up in private. It's going to be quite an interesting conversation."

"I'm sure," Alexia smiled. "At least, if that wedding band on your finger is anything to go by." She looked in the mirror at Erika, seeing the glare she was receiving. "You must be his wife. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Erika," Erika said. "A pleasure."

John could hear the hint of jealousy in Erika's voice. It was fair, honestly. She was worried that he'd stop paying attention to her because of finding his sister again. That in his excitement to reunite with his sister, he'd no longer have time for her. She was wrong, of course, but John would have to wait until they got to the Eastern Coven and got the annoying talk with the the council over with to prove that to her.

* * *

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	15. Chapter 15

I do not own Underworld or any of the characters.

* * *

Sibling Rivalry

John wound his way through the crowd in silence, right eye twitching irritably. He had always hated vampire parties. humans would have you believe that they consisted of rock music, blood showers, rampant sex everywhere, and human sacrifice. The only thing they ever got right was the rampant sex, and even that wasn't fully correct because even vampires tended to keep that behind closed doors.

John sighed heavily as he sat at the edge of the crowd. Unlike the parties back at his original coven, these ones were confined to a smaller area and with more people, making it miserably cramped and crowded. Bad enough the music would fit a funeral, but now there were too many people too. He couldn't find Erika, Selene, Alexia, or David. So, here he was, wearing a stuffy suit and sitting on the edge of a party alone because he couldn't find anyone.

Suddenly, the music died out and John looked up to the stage, seeing Semira. His eye twitched again. He hated that woman, and he had known her for exactly three hours.

"In times of war, this coven needs its moments to celebrate," Semira said. "The arrival of Thomas, David...and Selene...is reason aplenty to rejoice."

He rolled his eyes. Left out again. However, he had definitely noticed the disgust and forced cheerfulness when Semira had mentioned Selene.

Semira raised her glass, the other vampires in the room doing the same. "To us all."

They drank and John drained his glass, setting it down and pulling his earbud out, looking around. So many faces. All instantly memorized. That was one of the better things about his disorder. One he had always enjoyed making use of. He put an earbud back in, when suddenly, a pair of hands covered his eyes and the person leaned in to his ear.

"Guess who," the person whispered, John instantly placing Alexia's voice.

"Alexia," John said, turning around as Alexia stepped back, smiling. "Have you seen Erika?"

Alexia shook her head. "No. So, what have you been up to?"

John shook his head, smirking. "You know full well what. Let's save the catching up. I feel like a lot of that conversation will be for our ears only." He looked past Alexia, spotting Erika through the crowd. "If you'll excuse me, my wife looks like she's a bit lonely." He slipped past Alexia, hurrying to Erika and wrapping his arms around her from behind, his hands resting on her abdomen as he kissed the side of her neck lightly. "You're a hard woman to find."

"I missed you," Erika smiled.

"And I you," John smiled. "You look beautiful."

Erika smiled, leaning back against him, one hand resting on the back of his head. "What are we going to do? Most vampires can't survive giving birth."

"Don't worry," John said. "We'll think of something."

"Promise me something," Erika said, turning to him.

"Please don't make me do this," John said, already knowing what she wanted.

"If you have to chose between me or the child, promise me you'll save our baby," Erika said.

"I'm not letting anything happen to either of you," John vowed. "I promise you, I will protect you both."

Erika shook her head. "Swear to me."

John sighed. "I promise."

Erika nodded, resting her head on his shoulder. "I love you John."

"I love you too, Erika," John said. "How about we get out of here. You know how I hate parties."

Erika smiled and nodded. John slipped his hand into hers and they quickly left the party, finding their way to the room they had been given.

* * *

John rolled out of bed and stood, getting dressed. Erika pushed herself up, watching him.

"Is everything okay?" Erika asked.

"Yes," John smiled. "I just need to talk to Selene about something."

Erika nodded. "Okay. Make sure you become a hybrid too, then. I don't want to watch you die any more than you want to watch me die."

John smiled, turning back to her and kissing her. Then, he stood and left the room. The party seemed to be winding down, because vampires were leaving the Winter Garden now. He walked to Selene's room and knocked, the door opening after a moment and Selene letting him in. He walked to her window, staring out at the lightening sky.

"I've always wanted to see the sunrise," John said. "One of the most beautiful sights in the world. And yet, also one of the most deadly for me."

"What can I do for you, John?" Selene asked.

"Erika's pregnant," John said.

"Oh," Selene said. "So then, this is about Eve."

"No, this is about you," John said. "You know I wouldn't ask something like this if I wasn't desperate, but...please make Erika a hybrid like you. Immune to the sun. I can't lose her."

Selene watched him in silence before nodding. "Okay. I'll doit before I go to training tomorrow. And the immunity will transfer to your unborn child as well, so you don't have to worry about that."

John nodded and Selene picked up a cup she had been drinking out of before, cutting her palm and squeezing some into the cup, holding it out.

"I don't need-"

"Drink it John," Selene said. "I won't have your child or Erika losing you like Eve and I lost Michael."

John silently nodded and accepted the cup, drinking Selene's blood. He didn't feel any different, but he handed the cup back and she set it down.

"Now, go back to your wife, and let her know that I'll be stopping by later," Selene said.

"I have to talk to Alexia first, but I will," John said.

Selene nodded and John left, walking to the Winter Garden and finding Alexia walking toward him. She looked up at him and smiled.

"Hello John," Alexia smiled. "Time to talk?"

"Yeah," John nodded. "You have someplace we can talk privately?"

Alexia nodded and led him to her bedroom, sitting on the bed. John closed and locked the door before sighing and sitting beside her.

"Where should we start?" Alexia asked.

John was silent for a long while before speaking. "You know, my disorder actually can be quite useful. Since it causes my brain to function too quickly, it heightens my senses even further than a normal vampire's. Any faces I see are instantly memorized. I can hear sounds from a city away, I can smell people from further than a lycan. It can be very useful."

"It sounds it," Alexia nodded.

John nodded. "So, maybe you can help me. I'm a little confused."

"Okay," Alexia nodded. "What's up?"

"How come you smell like Marius?" John asked.

The switch was instant. Happy smiling Alexia was suddenly holding a thin knife, stabbing it at John's heart. He blocked the stab and shoved her hand upward, then launched himself sideways from a slash. As he rolled to his feet, she slammed into him, slamming him into the wall and slashing at his throat. He blocked it again, slamming his head into hers and knocking her back. Then, she began to slash at him. She was quick. Much quicker than he expected. She managed to slash his stomach, side, and chest before he could react. Not bad, but enough to draw blood. She slashed at his throat and he used his forearm as a shield, blocking it. She spun, stabbing him in the side and he caught her hand, spinning away from her and slamming her into a wall, making her release the knife. Then, he grabbed her by the hair, slamming her head into the wall twice before flipping her backward and hurling her onto the bed. As soon as she landed, he pinned her down, placing both hands on the headboard and driving the knife through them, pinning them. Then, he sat back, using his weight to hold her legs. Given she was a vampire, it wouldn't be enough, but Alexia seemed to have settled down a little upon seeing he was better than her.

"Now then, as I was saying," John said. "I've smelled Marius a few times on the lycans that have come after myself and the others, so I know his sent. And you smell so strongly of him that I'm shocked no one else knows. You're his lover, right?"

Alexia glared at him.

"Hey, it's alright," John said. "I don't judge. Not about you sleeping with a lycan, not about you being a traitor to your coven. None of it. Just tell me why you betrayed them."

"For peace," Alexia said. "Marius can bring peace."

"Marius is a self-serving prick with anger management problems," John said. "All he cares about is wiping out the vampire race. He wants to kill all of us. _All_ of us. Even you. He doesn't really care about you. Fucking you just gets him access to information he couldn't get otherwise, as well as probably getting him into the castle one day. If he cared about you, he wouldn't have you anywhere near this war."

"You have Erika near this war," Alexia countered.

"That's because she isn't currently being hunted for treason," John said. "The moment someone finds out you're fucking the leader of the lycan horde, they'll kill you."

"Weren't you a traitor too?" Alexia asked.

"Still am," John said. "That's why I'm not going to tell anyone about you. You see, back before I had to leave my original coven, I worked with a lycan named Raze in an attempt to get a peace treaty. I saved Amelia and sent her into hiding, which she should still be doing, as well as saving Raze as Lucien's successor. He's been trying to gather followers but Marius was somehow raising an army. Which is weird, because if I remember the reports correctly, about two months ago Marius was just some average joe lycan, nothing special."

"It's proof that Marius is the rightful leader," Alexia said.

"And that statement is proof that you're just a lovestruck little girl, no different than before we were turned," John said. "But you won't listen to me. You never did. All the times you 'great guy' boyfriends told me how worthless I was and how they were going to make me disappear, you never once believed me over them. At least, not until the bruises started to show up. Then you would dump them and apologize to me and find another boyfriend that did the exact same thing. But hey, if I have to take a few hits from Marius in order to prove to you that he doesn't care, then I will. Because if there's anything I've always been good at, it's getting hit by your scumbag boyfriends."

Alexia ripped her feet out from under him, slamming both into his face and hurling him backward into the wall, cratering it and almost breaking through to the other side. John dropped to the ground as Alexia broke free of the headboard and lunged, stabbing John in the abdomen.

"You don't know anything!" Alexia spat. "Raze is _not_ the rightful ruler of the lycan race, Marius is! He gained strength and rose to power all on his own! He's going to create peace and there's nothing you or your bullshit peace treaty can do about it!"

John sighed, pulling Alexia's hands off of the knife, pulling it out and allowing himself to heal. Then, he took the knife and threw it into the floor. I know I'm not going to change your mind with words. So I'm going to make you a deal. Because you're my sister and I love you, I'm not going to tell anyone about you and your boyfriend. In exchange, I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone about me and my peace treaty. Deal?" He turned, walking to the door. "Oh, and don't trust Semira. She was Viktor's favorite because she was clever and cunning. It wouldn't surprise me if she already knows about you two."

"Wait," Alexia said, John pausing. "Here. I got you a present. As an apology for abandoning you all those centuries ago after we were turned."

"That's not exactly how I remember it," John said. "I remember being dragged away by Viktor and you being smart enough not to follow."

Alexia smiled and tossed a small box to John. He caught it and opened it, smiling as he saw a bluetooth earpiece and connector jack.

"Now you don't have to worry about lycans catching the cord," Alexia said. "And John...thank you for being my brother. I promise I won't say anything."

John smiled and nodded, heading back to his and Erika's room, lying down beside her and setting the box on the end table beside the bed.

"Selene says she'll make you a hybrid tomorrow before we train the recruits," John said.

"And you?" Erika asked.

"She already made me drink some of her blood," John said.

"Good," Erika smiled. "Now, what the hell happened to your clothes?"

"Alexia and I had a bit of a...argument about her old boyfriends," John said.

Erika snorted in amusement. "I don't see you bleed much. You must have gone easy on her."

"She's my sister," John said. "Of course I did."

Erika nodded before sighing, drifting off to sleep again, John wrapping his arms around her and following.

* * *

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	16. Chapter 16

I do not own Underworld or any of the characters.

* * *

Betrayal

John watched as the recruits shot the simulation guns at the holograms of the lycans. They were doing what any normal person, human, lycan, or vampire, would do. What common sense and instinct said to do. They were aiming _at_ the lycans, rather than anticipating their movements. Which was why they were missing most of them.

"Don't aim at the lycans, anticipate," Selene said finally, after the recruits had failed the simulation for the tenth time.

John stood, walking over to them and taking one of the guns, Erika stepping up beside him with two of them. "Is it really fair for the one who's a better shot to have two pistols?"

"You're welcome to try and fight them with your blades," Erika invited.

"Pass," John snorted. "Selene, you want to get in on this?"

"Sure," Selene smiled, taking a pair of guns as well, tossing John a second.

They began the simulation, all of them opening fire, virtual lycans exploding rapidly as they were shot, the three of them keeping all of the lycans at bay. Finally, the simulation ended and they gave the guns back.

"Predict where they'll be and shoot there," John said. "And remember, contrary to popular belief and basic logic, a lycan is actually at his most vulnerable in his wolf form."

Several of the recruits began to whisper and mutter that they didn't understand.

"In wolf form they can't shoot at you with UV bullets, and their thinking becomes more basic and primal," John said. "They're faster and stronger, but they're also dumber and easier to predict."

"How many have you killed?" a recruit asked, obviously not thinking the three of them were as great as they thought.

"You want to know my number?" John asked.

"Yes," the recruit nodded.

"Okay," John nodded. "My number is eleven."

The recruits all snorted.

"Eleven isn't the number of lycans I've killed," John said. "It's the number of people I have left to protect. Everyone else has died because I wasn't good enough to protect them."

The recruits fell silent. Finally one spoke up.

"But how many have you killed?"

"We don't keep track," Selene said.

"If all you care about is getting notches in your belt, then by the time you have enough to brag about, you won't have anyone left to brag to," John said. "While you're off gaining glory killing lycans, your friends, your family, everyone you love will be being slaughtered by more. Success shouldn't be judged by the number of kills you have. It should be judged by the number of your friends and family that _weren't_ killed."

"An excellent point," a voice off to the side said, all of them turning, the recruits even going to attention. "So why don't we try working on something besides hunting? Close combat, for example."

Varga, Semira's other right hand, personal bodyguard, top Death Dealer, and her "secret" lover, walked into the room, tapping a button on a control screen beside a large raised circle on the floor and a hanging cage above it. As he did, the cage lowered into the room, two recruits stepping into it as it did. Once it touched down, they began to fight, one of the two quickly being slammed up against the side of the cage.

"Impressive isn't it?" Varga asked, tapping the cage. "My own invention. One of the first things a Death Dealer must learn is how to fight in a confined space."

"You 'invented' a cage," John said, voice dripping with sarcasm. "How incredibly genius of you. Really wish someone had invented that back in the dark ages. Oh, wait, that's right. They did. They used to be particularly fond of sticking us in them and hanging us out to burn in the sunlight. But of course, you wouldn't know that, would you Varga? How long ago were you turned?"

"Age isn't as important as the old breed think," Varga said.

"No?" John asked. "This training exercise proves how wrong you are. You think it's perfect, and yet it lacks any semblance of unpredictability, which is about half of what fighting a lycan for real involves. Hell, fighting anything for real."

Inside the cage, one of the two recruits flipped the other, doing so in a way to avoid hurting him much.

"Well, perhaps you would be inclined to indulge me, and my students, excuse me, _your_ students, in a lesson on close combat and unpredictability," Varga challenged.

"I would absolutely love to," John smirked, Varga tapping the screen, raising the cage.

"That's enough," he said, the fight ending instantly. "Gather around."

John glanced at Alexia, who raised a hand, tapping her nose. He pulled his earbuds out as the recruits gathered closer to the cage.

"We are going to school you in the true nature of the Lycan warrior," Varga said. "Here to help me with this lesson is our esteemed...guest, John, who shall be taking the role of Death Dealer, here to protect our fortress. I shall be taking the role of the Lycan, here to destroy it."

Varga climbed under the cage and onto the platform, John following and standing, sniffing and putting his earbuds back in, sighing. Varga struck with an uppercut and John brushed it aside, slamming a fist into Varga's side, making him grunt and take a step away before John caught his arm and flipped him, slamming him down on his back. Varga grunted loudly as the wind was knocked out of him, lying there for a moment, waiting for the spots to clear from his vision, probably.

"Impressive," Varga said, beginning to stand, only to spin and kick at John's leg.

John lifted the leg, having been expecting Varga to pull some low blows, and once Varga's kick was past, John spun, slamming his raised foot into Varga's back, sending him flying into the cage. Varga caught it and John leapt at him, kicking but missing. Varga flipped, standing on the side of the cage as John did the same, John beginning to strike at Varga rapidly, Varga barely fending off the blows. Finally, John faked a punch then crouched, sweeping Varga's legs out from under him. Varga crashed to the ground and John landed beside him, slamming a punch into his chest, knocking the wind from his lungs again. Then, he grabbed him spun, hurling him at the cage wall. Varga caught it again, reaching to his side where John had punched him at the beginning but stopping. John pulled Varga's knife from the back of his belt.

"Looking for this?" John asked, twirling it before tossing it out of the cage. "When you're trying to poison someone, you should be more careful to mask the scent. Nightshade. When introduced to a Vampire's bloodstream, it's usually fatal. It's also incredibly hard to detect. Tonight's lesson, I'm guessing, is to not trust your opponent to fight with honor, am I right, Varga?"

Varga glared at him before leaping off of the cage, punching at John only for John to catch his arm, ripping his shoulder out of its socket before slamming him to the ground. One of the recruits lifted the cage and John dropped out of the cage, picking up the knife as Semira and several of the Eastern Coven's Death Dealers entered the room. John used a rag to wipe the nightshade off of the blade and set the knife on a table beside a pair of pistols Varga had brought for weapons handling practice.

"Hello Semira," John said as she stared at Varga. "His should will heal by tomorrow if he drinks some blood. Yeah, you should have given him specific orders not to fight the one who can smell nightshade and who doesn't trust anyone."

"You're a very skilled fighter," Semira said. "However, I don't need you, or your blonde bitch. Do it."

John reacted even before the soldiers began to move. He had grabbed Erika and dove behind a metal table seconds before guns began to go off and the recruits began to explode into clouds of ash. As soon as Erika was safe, John leapt over the table, hurling a simulation pistol at a soldier and hitting him in the throat. Then, he grabbed the soldier, blocking the initial volley of bullets as he drew the soldier's pistol, shooting two more. Then, a bullet hit his shoulder and time seemed to slow. He stared at the wound as it glowed for a moment before the remains of the bullet were forced out, followed by the UV filling. More soldiers guns were aiming at him now, but John leapt over the bullets, one punching into his foot, another grazing his arm. By the time he had landed, both wounds had healed again. He grabbed a soldier's head, snapping his neck and grabbed his rifle, spraying three soldiers. The last five all began to fire at him only for Erika tackle him out of the way, a bullet punching into her upper thigh as she did. Then, a smoke grenade bounced across the floor from the doorway, smoke shooting out and hiding them before someone grabbed Erika and lifted her, their other hand grabbing John's arm and yanking. John followed the person out of the room and out of the smoke, seeing it was Alexia.

"Stay quiet," Alexia said as they rounded three corners before stopping, Alexia pressing on the wall, a section of it separating. "Hide in here. I don't want to know how you're both immune to UV rounds, I don't care right now. Just stay hidden."

"What about Selene?" John asked.

"Semira shot her with a nightshade bullet while you were fighting," Alexia said. "David and Thomas will probably save her inside of an hour, and probably will use this tunnel. She'll be moved to Semira's personal chambers."

"Okay," John nodded. "Get out of here."

Alexia nodded and turned to run, only for John to knock her out, then John ducked into the tunnel with Erika, moving a short ways away from the door before setting her down and pulling the bullet out of her leg, the bullet having gotten caught in her bone. Erika sighed as the wound drained and healed and John smiled.

"Looks like it worked," John smiled. "We're hybrids."

Erika smiled and nodded. "We should go and get our guns."

John nodded and they headed deeper into the tunnel as an alarm blared from somewhere behind the walls. Finally, they reached an intersection and John turned, heading in the direction that should lead to their room. At the far end, he found a dead end, except for a small hole. He peeked through, seeing their bed and their guns lying on a table beside it.

"We're back," John said, pushing on the wall.

Sure enough, it swung open and they stepped out, John looking back to see where they came out of, seeing it was a painting of a battle between vampires and lycans. He turned, grabbing his guns as Erika did the same, both loading them before heading back into the tunnel, heading back the way they came. As they reached the intersection, they met David and Thomas.

"Ah, there you are," Thomas said. "What happened?"

"Semira had her soldiers kill the recruits and try to kill us, but I was able to kill the soldiers, then escape," John explained. "Selene wasn't able to escape."

"I see," Thomas nodded. "Very well. Selene should be in Semira's private quarters. Come on. They're this way."

John nodded, Thomas leading them all to another dead end, peeking through the hole. Then, he pushed it open and they all stepped out, finding Selene strapped to a table with a tube in each femoral and brachial artery to drain her blood into a glass bowl. John reached for a needle only for Thomas to catch his arm. Thomas unscrewed a small ring at the base of the needle and slowly pulled it out, holding it up.

"Look," Thomas said, twisting the ring and extending a pair of small blade-like arms from the end. "These are designed to open the arteries as wide as possible. If we are not careful we'll end up doing her more harm than good."

John nodded, all of them setting to work carefully retracting the needles' arms and pulling them out. Up close, John found that there was actually one for every major artery and vein in Selene's body except her aorta. Finally, they were all free and John released the metal splint shackles holding Selene down.

"Finally," John sighed.

"Take her," Thomas said. "You must go north. Far north. Var Dohr."

"The Nordic Coven?" John asked. "Why there?"

"You will all be safe there," Thomas said, just as the door burst open and Semira and Varga walked in, both stopping as David, Erika, and John all aimed pistols at them, Varga aiming right back with his good arm.

"No," Thomas said.

"Father and son united in treason," Semira smiled.

"Take her and go," Thomas said, pulling a short sword out of his cane. "I'll deal with them."

"I could kill them both in a couple of minutes so we can leave," John offered.

"I can't be exposed to sunlight," Thomas said. "Don't worry about me. I can handle Semira."

Semira jumped to the swords above the door, grabbing one, and Varga put his pistol away, drawing a sword of his own.

"At least let me finish off Varga," John said.

"No," Thomas said. "Leave, now!"

He lunged, beginning to fight the pair and John sighed, picking up Erika as David picked up Selene. John hurried to the window, ripping the shutters out of it and holding his hand in the light, Erika doing the same. It was warm, but a pleasant kind of warm. John picked Erika up again, leaping out the window. As he landed, he set Erika down and looked up, hearing David shout. Then, David leapt out the window after another moment and the three of them ran away, David still carrying Selene. Just outside the gate, they all climbed into a car, David and Selene climbing in back, David giving Selene blood, since Selene was stirring finally. John sped off from the coven, leaving it behind and heading north. He glanced in the rearview mirror as they drove, gritting his teeth.

"She'll be okay," Erika said. "She's smart too."

John nodded and focused on driving.

* * *

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	17. Chapter 17

I do not own Underworld or any of the characters.

* * *

Cold War

John stared out the window of the train as it rumbled along the track. Outside, all was cold, snow-covered, and dark. He hated the cold. It was miserable, all-consuming, and unstoppable. Heat a person's body could adjust to. And in the mean time, he could walk around shirtless, or in a muscle shirt. But cold was different. There was a limit to how cold a person could get used to, and even then their bodies would be unable to reach peak performance. Not to mention that even if you're used to the cold it's just shitty and mentally draining.

"Var Dohr is just beyond that ridge," Selene finally spoke up.

John nodded as they all walked to the door connecting their car to the next, opening the door then climbing out, jumping off of the train. They all landed lightly, beginning to walk away from the train. As they walked, John tried his best to ignore the cold, Erika wrapping her arms around him to try and help both stay warm. It didn't help any, but he wouldn't complain. Finally, they reached the ridge, climbing over it in silence, the wind howling past them and driving icy needles into John's bones. He had always been told that he was more of a wimp about the cold than other vampires, but he couldn't help it. And right now, it wasn't helping that the wind was too loud for him to hear the music in his earbuds. Finally, they reached the bottom of a frozen waterfall, a castle visible at the top of the cliff. Selene and David both drew knives, planning to use them to scale it, however, as both jumped onto the waterfall, driving their knives into it, the wind began to die down, John's music beginning to bleed through, enough for him to gain proper motor function, anyway.

"Hold on to me," John said, picking Erika up bridal style.

She wrapped her arms around him and he sprinted forward, jumping and stepping off of a chunk of ice, using that leg to propel himself to the next chunk, working his way across the waterfall one way, then back the other, like a sort of goat trail for creatures that could jump ten feet at a time. He reached the top, Selene and David arriving a moment later, just as the wind began to scream past them, once again drowning out his music. They walked to the front gate of the castle, David pushing it open, finding an empty courtyard. As they walked in, the wind fell silent, being blocked by the walls, and John pulled out his earbuds, sniffing. Something smelled off about the castle. Not like a Lycan ambush kind of off, more like the castle itself was dead. He put the earbuds back in, hand resting on his pistol.

"Where is everybody?" David asked.

"Watching," Selene said, looking around slowly and carefully, John and Erika's eyes both also scanning, yet finding nothing.

David was looking around too, but didn't have the same trained eye that the three Death Dealers had. He was passing over objects too quickly, making a full revolution before the others had gone halfway. Finally, John stopped, a smile slowly creeping across his face.

"What?" Selene asked.

Just then, a woman wearing a white dress obviously made for the cold, a shiny metal cuirass, and with long, straight, snow-white hair reaching past her shoulders appeared in front of them.

"We come seeking sanctuary," Selene said. "Not to fight."

"And something warmer to wear, if you have any to spare," John said.

"John!" Selene hissed.

"Relax," John said. "There's an old friend here."

The woman seemed to become a sort of smoke, or gas, moving backward a ways before solidifying. "You've come to the right pace."

"I would like to speak with her," John said, the others all looking at him in confusion. "If she'll allow it."

"My name is Lena," the woman said, turning away. "Follow me. She's waiting for you."

She walked through a door and they followed, finding several other vampires, all wearing similar armor and white fur clothes.

"What was that?" David asked.

"Some kind of trick," Selene said, sounding untrusting and bitter.

"No," John said. "The vampires here possess unique abilities. What you saw is only one of them."

They all stared at him and John walked on ahead, Erika at his side. Finally, they reached a room with a pool of water surrounded by ice where Lena spoke in some odd language, a bald man with multiple tattoos rising out of the water and staring at them, Lena handing him a fur robe as John pulled out one earbud.

"You must be Selene and John," the man said. "Do the great Death Dealers truly come in peace?"

"We do," John nodded, Selene also agreeing.

"And what of your companions?" the man asked.

"This is my wife Erika," John introduced.

"And this is David, son of Thomas," Selene said.

"It can't be," the bald man breathed, walking over to stand in front of David. "I haven't seen you for many many years."

David looked to the others, confused, and John shook his head.

"Come," the man said, walking past.

They all followed, and after a few minutes, they reached a room where the man stepped off to the side, Amelia turning toward them, wearing a fur dress almost as regal as the ones she used to wear, and with a sword strapped to her side.

"Amelia," John smiled, bowing. "I'm glad you're still alive."

"All thanks to you," Amelia said. "I'd have tried to make contact, but there are no phones at this coven."

"I figured as much when I saw it," John nodded. "I'm sure you remember Selene. This is my wife Erika and-"

"David," Amelia said, eyes slightly wider than normal and staring at him. "You're...David. You've...you've grown up so much."

John looked back and forth between the two before realization dawned on him, Selene also seeming to understand. "Well how do you like that. You're royalty, David."

"No, that's impossible," David said. "My father said my mother was low-born."

"Yes," Amelia nodded. "That was what we agreed to tell you. We wanted to keep your relationship to me a secret. At least until you could defend yourself. You look well trained."

"Yes," David said. "John drilled fighting skills into me rather...strictly."

"Pain's an excellent teacher," John shrugged.

"Indeed," Amelia smiled. "I thank you for looking after my son."

"It was kind of mutual," John said. "Amelia, do you know what's happening with the Lycans right now?"

"Marius is raising an army, and Raze is creating one of his own," Amelia said. "However, if they fought, Raze would be destroyed."

"Yes, he would," John nodded. "But the Eastern Coven can't stand against him alone, either. Especially now."

"Now?" Amelia asked.

"My father's dead," David said, Amelia's eyes widening. "I'm sorry."

"How?" Amelia asked.

"Semira," John said. "She invited us all to the Eastern Coven, then betrayed us. She wiped out the Eastern Coven's own Death Dealer recruits in order to frame us, and then when we tried to escape, she killed Thomas."

"I see," Amelia said. "Ask what you will, John."

"Will the Nordic Coven help us defeat Marius?" John asked. "And once he's defeated, regardless of the Nordic Coven's aid, or lack thereof, will you sign a peace treaty with Raze?"

Everyone stared at him besides Erika and Selene. Amelia sighed.

"I'm not an Elder anymore," Amelia said. "I'm a relic from a time long passed. I was an elder when we treated the first Lycans as slaves. I was an elder before they existed. I was there when William was sealed away. I do not wish to have a peace treaty with Raze. I wish him dead. My views are tainted with the prejudice of millennia at war. Because you saved my life, I grant all of my authority as Elder to you. I hope to see an end to this war."

John nodded, bowing again.

"When you need our aid against Marius, we will give you what help we can," Amelia said. "However, there are no guns here. And few in this coven have been in combat for the last several hundred years."

"I know," John nodded. "I expect it will be a costly battle for everyone. Especially the Nordic Coven. And I regret having to ask you to pay that price."

Amelia nodded. "You are all free to use the castle as you see fit. John, Selene, please attempt to prepare the others as best you can. All of you, spread the word. The Nordic Coven is preparing for war. David, please come with me. I have something that belongs to you."

David bowed and followed her out of the room. The bald man and Lena led John and the others to rooms they could use, then John and Erika walked to the courtyard, several of the Nordic vampires meeting them there, wielding swords and shields. John sighed, looking to Erika, who shrugged.

"We have to use whatever we can," Erika said as a vampire walked over, holding out a pair of swords and shields.

Both accepted one of each and began to train the vampires. All of them were skilled. Despite centuries of peace, they all seemed to have had at least _some_ combat training in the past. As a result, they were all fighting like experienced soldiers within a handful of hours, at least, against John and Erika. Against Lycans wielding guns would be a different story.

Suddenly, David sprinted into the courtyard carrying an arming sword in his right hand and a pistol in his left. Instantly, John and Erika dropped their swords and shields, drawing their pistols instead. John took one glance at them, however, and put them away again, resting a hand on Erika's arm. She looked and swore, also putting them away. The cold had frozen their pistols' lubricant. They would need to steal a gun from a Lycan. However, the problem was obvious the moment John thought about it. The Lycans would have UV rounds loaded. Sure enough, as the Lycans began to repel down the inside of the wall and opened fire, UV rounds began to hit all around John and Erika. Both grabbed their shields and swords, charging into the swarm of Lycans. Lycans wouldn't be able to use their beast forms in the cold like this, which gave them the advantage of guns instead. Finally, John hurled the sword, spinning and embedding the shield in another Lycan's throat at the same time as the sword split one lycan down the front and another who wasn't paying attention ran onto the blade, impaling himself.

Several bullets drilled into John's back and he shouted in pain, turning and snarling at the Lycan who had shot him, one who looked terrified now. The best thing about being immune to sunlight, was that, while agonizingly painful, UV rounds were only shallow wounds that didn't bleed much. John snatched the rifle out of the Lycan's hands, flipping it and driving the barrel through the Lycan's head using its eye before firing, spraying another Lycan across the face with UV rounds, managing to get one in its eye and kill it. He yanked the Lycans' pistols out of their holsters and checked turned, swapping the mags for two of his own before opening fire, Lycans dropping rapidly. As the rest turned to try and deal with him, Erika followed his lead, ditching her sword and shield in a similar fashion as he had before stealing two pistols and swapping their mags. Both began to dart around through the ranks of Lycans, avoiding bullets and making them shoot their own troops while executing Lycans at close range, usually able to take out two per shot, if they aimed right.

Suddenly, Marius landed behind John. He began to turn, only for Marius' fist to crash into his back, launching him into Erika, and both away from the troops. Marius turned, heading for Selene instead, and the troops that were still alive at the gate spread into the coven. John and Erika both stood, sprinting after the lycans, splitting up and quickly gunning down any they could find. Finally, John slowed to a stop as he heard a thundering crash from behind him. He looked out a window nearby to see Marius and Selene outside, Selene lying on the ground. John swore, kicking the wall out and leaping at Marius, tackling him over the cliff where John and the others had climbed up. Both crashed down on the ice hard, John sliding away from Marius before standing.

"Alexia, your boyfriends are going to be the death of me," John growled, extending his arm blades as Marius began to shift, growing rapidly.

He was huge. Nearly as big as the super lycan from Antigen, but with a near normal face and glowing gold eyes. John stared at him. It was impossible. He couldn't be a hybrid. Unless he had hybrid blood to create an artificial change.

"Michael," John breathed.

Marius roared, shooting forward and swiping at John. John ducked under it, slicing off Marius's hand, only for Marius to spin, smashing him away with the other, the first regrowing. John flipped, landing on his feet in time for Marius to punch him, sending him blasting into the frozen waterfall. As he pushed himself up, he looked out across the ice at Marius, finding him sprinting after Selene who was skidding around a turn using a sword. Then, Selene ducked under a swipe from him, stabbing him, then smashing her hands into the sword's guard, then jumping and kicking him backward, directly at John. John dove out of the way, allowing Marius to explode into the cliff, before darting back, grabbing the sword and twisting, ripping it out through Marius's side. Marius roared in pain and John flipped away, licking the blade. Images filled his head. Michael upside down, throat slit and blood draining from him into a pan, Marius injecting Michael's blood to achieve his new form. Using the new form's power to being lycans under his command. Seducing Alexia.

John regretted not being better at controlling what memories he viewed as that played out. Next was a memory of a discussion about Marius's plan for destroying the Eastern Coven.

"What if you can't find the hybrid?" one of Marius's generals was saying.

"Then my spy will get us in," Marius said.

"Yes, about that," another said. "Why should we trust you to have our best interests at heart, when you're fucking a disgusting parasite?"

"That foolish parasite is easily manipulated," Marius said simply. "All I had to do was play the part of the forbidden lover, and pretend to care, and she is completely devoted to me. When it's time to assault the Eastern Coven, all I'll have to do is tell her to take down the defenses and it'll be done."

"And once she's served her purpose?" another of the generals asked. "Will you be disposing of her the same way you intend to dispose of the hybrid?"

"No," Marius said. "There will be no need. Semira is far from blind. She'll see through the spy's lies. Then, she'll take care of the spy herself. And if, by some miracle, she doesn't, then whichever of you finds her first may do with her as you please. I don't care. Once the vampires are extinct and I rule the lycans, I'll be able to have any bitch I please anyway."

John shook his head as the memories ended, snarling angrily as rage flooded through him. As he moved to step forward, Marius smashed a forearm into him, launching him away before grabbing Selene by the throat, shifting back to his human form. John sat up just as Alexia stabbed Selene from behind, missing any vital points, by some miracle.

"No!" John shouted. "You bitch!"

Alexia glanced at him, snarling in rage, yet her eyes shining with a sort of warning. John realized that it wasn't by accident that the stab hadn't been fatal. He glanced at the sword, the blade still coated in Marius's fresh blood. As he did, Alexia pulled the sword out of Selene, tossing a pistol to Marius, who aimed at Selene.

"Tell him where the hybrid is and all this butchery will be over," Alexia said, walking around to stand beside Marius.

John stood unsteadily, only for Marius to put a bullet in his gut. He shouted in pain and fell onto his back. Just as he did, Marius shouted in rage, the pistol emptying itself into Selene's chest. Then, he roared, the lycans flooding out of the castle and retreating. John slowly began to push himself up again, looking to Alexia, who was watching him sadly. John looked between her eyes and the sword he was still holding several times, Alexia glancing at it before turning away. John looked to Selene, just as she lifted a chunk of ice, slipping into the water. Marius glanced at John before turning and leaving, taking off at a sprint. Alexia glanced at him as well just as Erika landed beside him, dropping her sword and holding a hand to his gut. Then, Alexia turned, leaving as well.

"What happened?" Erika asked.

"Marius used...Michael's blood...to be a pseudo-hybrid," John said. "I need...a bottle." He looked at the sword and Erika nodded, taking it then lifting him.

"Where's Selene?" Erika asked.

John looked to the place Selene had gone under the ice, blood remaining on the top of one of the chunks where she had fallen. Erika nodded and turned toward the castle as David and Lena arrived. David took John from Erika, using a dagger to climb to the top of the cliff with him before hurriedly carrying him into the castle. Several of the vampires there hurried over, pulling the bullet out and bandaging the wound before Erika arrived, handing him a glass vial filled a quarter of the way with blood.

"It's all I could get," Erika said.

"It's plenty," John said. "Thank you. Now we need to get back before Marius destroys the Eastern Coven."

"Why would she try to kill Selene?" Erika asked.

"She didn't," John said. "The stab wound wasn't fatal. And it was nowhere near enough to kill Selene anyway. Marius's lack of self control is what killed Selene."

Erika nodded as David walked in, his sword strapped across his back.

"She's not dead," David said. "According to Lena, anyway. We need to get back. Now."

"Agreed," John nodded. "We'll have to move fast."

David nodded, tossing John a small blood pack, they kind they had carried for emergencies back when they lived in David's old coven. John drank it, healing, then stood, the three of them leaving the coven and beginning to make the trip back to the Eastern Coven quickly.

* * *

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	18. Chapter 18

I do not own Underworld or any of the characters.

* * *

Peace

John watched David walk away, David heading directly for the council chambers. John and Erika, however, turned the other way, heading for Semira's chambers.

"You're sure she's there?" Erika asked.

"Positive," John nodded. "She's hurt. At minimum. I can smell her blood from here. Even with my music playing."

Erika nodded and followed him in silence. After a few more minutes, John kicked Semira's door open, shattering it, then stopped staring at Alexia, who lay on the ground in a pool of her own blood, her throat slit wide open.

"Fuck Alexia," John sighed, kneeling and gently lifting her upper body into his arms. "I told you not to trust her. Jesus."

He drew a dagger from his coat, cutting her abdomen open, as he had seen Selene do to David so long ago. He slit his palm and carefully pushed his hand inside, wincing at the feeling of his hand brushing her internal organs. Finally, he found her heart and wrapped his fingers around it, squeezing, forcing it to pump. After a couple seconds, her stopped, feeling it beating in his hand. Then, he pulled his hand back out, watching as her throat slowly sealed itself, followed by her abdomen. He cut his wrist, holding it out, and Alexia latched on, sucking hard. He grit his teeth as she bit him, but after a moment, she blinked, seeming to realize what was happening for the first time and let go, sitting back. She licked her lips, blinking several times before staring at John.

"How?" Alexia asked.

"Long story," John said. "So, now that you died for not listening to me, you ready to start?"

Alexia nodded. John held out the bottle of Marius's blood that he had collected and Alexia accepted it, drinking it. After several seconds, she dropped the bottle, covering her mouth as tears ran down her face.

"I told you," John said. "Marius doesn't care about anything but destroying the vampire race."

"How do you know that Raze isn't the same?" Alexia asked.

"Because Raze understands that not all vampires are evil, and not all Lycans are good," John said. "And vice versa. He's a friend. And he's at least a better choice than Marius."

Alexia nodded. "Okay. What do we do?"

Just then, an alarm began to sound.

"Breach detected," the automated alert announced.

"Sounds like we fight," John said. "You've been keeping up with your combat training, I trust?"

"Of course," Alexia snorted, grabbing a pair of silver daggers from the wall, each about seven inches, as Erika held out a pair of pistols.

They all ran to the main hall where there was a stairway reaching from the door to the center of the room, then splitting into three sets going to the other walls. John stood behind a pillar where he was in cover while Erika and Alexia did the same at the pillar to either side of him. Suddenly, John's phone began to ring. He pulled out an earbud, holding it to his ear.

"What's up?" John asked.

"Marius is about a minute away from breaching the door," Raze's voice said. "My men are about five minutes out. As soon as we get there, we'll flank them. As long as you can hold them at the door."

"That shouldn't be a problem," John said as vampires flooded in, filling the stairs and standing with no cover, only David having enough sense to copy John's tactics, thanks to John's training. "I hope. Everyone get behind something!"

The vampires almost all knelt down, some using each other for cover, others using the vertical poles of the staircase railings as cover, others flat-out ignoring him.

"Try to hurry Raze," John said. "I'm commanding idiots."

"I'll try," Raze said.

John looked toward David, catching sight of Varga standing behind a pillar as well. He was surprised Varga was on their side. And not excessively pleased. He turned back to the door as it exploded inward, a hundred voices shouting instantly as Lycans streamed in. Everyone but John, Alexia, and Erika opened fire, the bullets bouncing off of the metal riot shields the Lycans were holding.

"Well fuck us then," John growled, putting the pistols away and extending his arm blades.

Vampires began to drop, unsurprisingly, and John leapt off of the upper level just as David ordered the rest to fall back. He crashed into the side of the lycan group blades first, splitting a pair of them wide open before spinning, slashing several more. He retracted the left blade, grabbing an AK47 as it was falling and slammed it into another Lycan's face, flipping him backward. Several bullets punched into his back and he stomped on a fallen shield, flipping it up behind himself and blocking the bullets before kicking it, sending it spinning through the air at the Lycan, followed by several shots from his pistol, dropping that Lycan and a second, who had been turning to shoot at him as well.

Then, Marius's fist crashed into his chest, hurling him backward. John flipped, landing on his feet and putting his pistol away just as a Lycan set a heavy machine gun on its tripod's legs, a second instantly loading it. Then, it fired, a bullet punching through one of the shutters, allowing light to spill in. Another shot. Another shaft of light. Both had come with several dead Vampires. John lunged, managing to decapitate the lycan firing it before Marius push-kicked him. Marius pounced instantly, drawing a knife and raising it, only fore bullets to slam into him. He dropped the knife, looking up at Alexia, who spat at him, before a blur crashed into him, hurling him off of John and yanking John to his , it sped off, killing the lycans that had made it to the stairs. John watched as it stopped in a shaft of light. He smiled. Selene. Alive, wearing a white jacket, and with the end of her hair bleached white.

"You're as hard to kill as me Selene," John said.

"We do have that reputation, don't we?" Selene said, staring at Marius.

John turned back to the Lycans, finding that there were still far too many for them to win, especially with almost half of the floor now covered by sun spots. He extended both blades again, wading back into the lycans. Marius's roar rang out instantly, the Lycans all shifting, one of them managing to finish in time to throw John, buying the rest time to finish. John landed on his feet, drawing his pistols and dropping three before putting them away and charging again. Marius's massive, furry hand appeared almost instantly, batting him away. He crashed into the back of a lycan David was fighting and felt the lycan's bones shatter. He stood, stabbing it to put it out of its misery and glanced at David.

"Semira, now," he growled.

David nodded, sprinting away while Selene left as well, Marius charging after her. John made sure to stay out of his way and once he was gone, sprinted back toward the lycans. When he reached them, however, a horn blew, and Nordic Vampires wearing white fur jackets, white pants, silver chest plates, and silver masks that covered their face, as well as gloves, charged through the door, mowing down the unaware lycans. John grinned. They were doing well. However, the parade of Nordic Vampires was short, and soon, it was lycans once again streaming through the door. John swore, soon finding Alexia at his side, spinning and slicing lycans apart as though it were a sort of dance. Having been on the business end of a knife held by her recently himself, he definitely didn't envy the lycans that she attacked. Then, Lena was on his other side, her sword doing arguably more damage than Alexia's knives. John himself suddenly felt as though her were falling behind.

"Nice of you to join us," John said.

"Nice of you to save some for us," Lena said.

John smirked just as a roar echoed through the air, making everyone flinch. The lycans surged forward and John and the others fought them back as best they could, but were soon pushed back to the stairs. Then, just as John thought they might actually have to retreat, a pained yelp rang out from outside the door. Everyone paused, even the lycans, and suddenly larger lycans, all of these with a white handprint on their chests, surged through the door, literally ripping the other lycans apart as they fought.

"Don't let them in!" Varga shouted.

"Hold your fire!" someone shouted.

John looked around, seeing Amelia on the stairs above him, beside Varga. He hadn't even realized she was there.

The vampires looked between the two, confused, and John turned back to the lycans just as one bigger than the rest leapt over the others, landing on the stairs in front of him and drawing itself up, roaring.

"Nice to see you too Raze," John said, nodding toward the hallway Selene and Marius had gone down. "Marius is that way, fighting Selene. Be careful."

Raze roared, charging after Marius on all fours, the vampires staring at John incredulously.

"Raze is an ally," John said. "A lycan that wants peace. Swords only starting now. No killing a lycan with a handprint painted on it. They're allies."

Then, he charged, slaughtering his way into the lycans again, Alexia at his side and Erika on his other side with a silver sword in her hand. As they fought, they soon reached Raze's lycans, John saluting a lycan while killing one of Marius's. The lycan roared, driving its claws at him, only for them to pass over his shoulder and stab one of Marius's lycans in the head.

"Pay attention, got it," John nodded, spinning and splitting an enemy lycan up the front.

* * *

Raze roared as he reached the training room, finding Marius halfway into a cage that Selene had lowered around herself. He crashed into Marius hard, slamming him to the ground, only to be thrown off instantly. He flipped, landing on his feet and roared, Marius roaring even louder. Marius stepped forward, swiping at Raze, but Raze ducked under it, clawing at Marius's torso, only for Marius to heal instantly, punching Raze and sending him bouncing along the hallway. Marius followed, Raze struggling to his feet and grabbing a stone bust from beside him, smashing it into Marius's head as Marius got in range. He leapt at Marius, latching onto his back, biting into his shoulder and clawing at anything he could reach. Marius roared, thrashing about, trying to dislodge Raze. Finally, he slammed Raze into the wall, loosening him enough to reach over his shoulders, his claws driving themselves into Raze's back before he hurled him over his head, sending him crashing into the wall. Then, Selene crashed into him, blasting him into the wall at the end of the hallway. Marius batted her aside and Raze crashed into Marius, smashing them both through the wall, both crashing to the ground in a library.

Marius grabbed Raze by the throat, turning and hurling him away from the hole, into the opposite wall before hurling a table after him. Raze ducked under the table, both charging and crashing into each other. Raze gouged out one of Marius's eyes and bit into his shoulder again, ripping a chunk free when Marius lifted Raze. Then, he slammed Raze back into the floor, cratering it. He kicked Raze, sending him crashing into the wall again before Selene appeared beside him, kicking him in the side of the knee and breaking it, then drilling a punch into his jaw. Marius roared and Raze stood, growling. Selene glanced at him and Raze nodded. Then, Selene grabbed Marius by the elbow, spinning and hurling him at Raze. Marius flipped, setting his feet only for Raze to, once again, attach himself to Marius's back, clawing and tearing at him. Selene began forward but Marius hurled an entire book shelf at her before ripping Raze off of his back again, this time chasing him after hurling him into the wall. Marius crashed into Raze hard, breaking several of his ribs before blasting them both through the wall and onto the upper level of the entry hall where the vampires and Raze's lycans were nearly finished with Marius's lycans.

Marius roared, lifting Raze by the throat, Raze struggling to keep his beast form. Then, Selene hurled a silver sword, the blade stabbing into Marius's back. Marius roared in pain, dropping Raze who moved instantly, biting Marius's throat and tearing it out before stepping behind him and grabbing his head, twisting sharply to break his spine before using his left hand's claws to slash the flesh of his neck, removing the head. Marius's body dropped, transforming back instantly as his head transformed back as well, Raze roaring and holding it up by the hair. Marius's lycans all stopped fighting, transforming back a few at a time before they were all in their human formed again, staring in stunned silence at their leader's head. Selene stepped up beside Raze as he transformed back, tossing the head to the ground floor.

"All who followed Marius, leave now!" Raze ordered. "If you stay, you die!"

Raze's lycans parted, allowing Marius's followers to flee.

"Well don't just let them leave!" Varga said. "We should kill them now!"

"No," John said. "If Raze wants to let them leave, it's his choice."

"What, is the lycan in charge now?" Varga asked.

"No," John said, turning. "But I am. I speak with Amelia's authority, and I say that it's Raze's choice."

"Is this true?" Varga demanded, turning to Amelia.

"It is," Amelia nodded. "I have chosen to step down as a ruling elder. John will take my place."

"Then it is decided," Cassius, the head of the council of elders, said.

"Selene, David, and Lena will be elders alongside me," John said, everyone staring at him. "David is nobility, Selene is the greatest vampire warrior, and Lena knows more about this world than anyone."

"As you wish...Lord Elder," Varga said.

"And if anyone ever calls me Lord Elder again, I'm going to behead them," John added. "Please, Varga, for the love of God, say it again."

Varga glared at him before turning away. John turned to Raze and nodded, Raze nodding back.

"Someone find clothes for the lycans," John said. "They're going to be our guests."

There were several less than pleased comments, but after several minutes, several vampires arrived with robes, and a very large blanket for Raze, since he was too big for a robe to fit properly. Then, John and the others followed the council to the council chamber where they had a short yet annoying ceremony consisting of the council drinking blood from a chalice, then John, Selene, David, and Lena drinking from the chalice. Then it was over, and the room emptied of everyone except the council, John and the other new elders, Erika, Alexia, Raze, Raze's right hand man, and Amelia.

"Now," Cassius said. "Tell us what scheme you've been concocting that involves us playing host to these...people."

"Watch your tone old man!" Raze's assistant snarled.

"Silence!" Raze snapped. "If you do anything to undermine Lucien's will, I will kill you myself."

"Lucien!?" Cassius spat. "Traitors!"

"Shut the fuck up!" John snapped. "Lucien didn't start the war. He fell in love with Victor's daughter, and she was executed for it. Victor tried to kill Lucien as well but he defended himself. Thus, the war. Lucien didn't want to fight, though. He wanted peace. But as long as Victor existed, he couldn't have that. When I found out, yes, I betrayed Victor. I saved Amelia from a plot to have her killed created by another traitor within my first coven, Craven. then, during the battle between Lucien's lycans and Victor's coven, I saved Raze. I had meant to save Lucien, but he was mortally wounded and chose Raze as his successor."

"Why are we listening to the words of a traitor?" one of the other council members demanded.

"Because this traitor is about to end the war," Lena said.

"Now shut the fuck up or we'll negotiate this treaty over the council's severed heads," Selene said. "John doesn't _have_ to explain. He's an elder. So long as he has at least two of our support, which he does, he can negotiate the treaty whether you like it or not."

The council fell silent.

"Thank you," John said. "As I was saying. Amelia and Raze were meant to form a peace treaty once Amelia assumed control as the last Elder, however, Marcus became a hybrid who wanted to destroy both races and delayed it. By the time he had been dealt with, the Purges had begun. Then the lycans were too scattered to worry about a peace treaty, because there was no war, until Antigen saved their race, and unintentionally gave Marius the means to raise an army. Now that he's been dealt with, Raze is here so that we can negotiate a lasting peace between the races. One that doesn't involve bullets or death. Any questions?"

"How can we expect lycans to honor this treaty?" one of the councilors asked. "Lycans follow strength. If a stronger one rises up, the lycans will have broken the treaty."

"And if a group of rogue vampires who refuse to accept the treaty start hunting lycans, we won't?" John asked. "No one, no matter how powerful or influential they are, can be expected to control an entire race alone. If rogue lycans decide to go against the treaty, it will be dealt with by both lycans and vampires, just as it would be if a vampire group decided to."

"Do you have any requests?" Lena asked, turning to Raze.

"Equality," Raze said.

"That will take a long time," John said. "Since we're all immortal, we tend to hold grudges easier than humans. We can do our best, but that's all we can promise. Full integration won't work for a while, though. Where would you like the Lycans' territory to be?"

Raze thought for several moments. "Do you have a map?"

John looked to Amelia, who left the room, then returned a few moments later with a map, spreading it out. Raze marked several places across the world where he wanted the Lycans to be able to live and John nodded.

"Okay," John said. "That's doable."

"We need a few places where lycans and vampires live together as well," Lena spoke up. "How about the Western Coven once it's rebuilt and then Victor's old coven?"

"Not the Western Coven," John said. "It's too close to Antigen. They're still on an immortal hunt there. Even after all this time. What about here? We'll need Raze to be here often to help us make things run smoothly, so why not just have them live here?"

"And since we're in a city, the lycans can go out during the day to give the appearance of this being a normal home," Selene added. "To help throw off suspicion."

"Good thinking," John nodded. "What do you think Raze?"

Raze nodded. "The lycans will live with the vampires in any covens that are near or in a city. They can act as lookouts and guards during the day. That way if the humans try to start another purge, we'll have some advanced warning."

"Okay," John nodded. "Now we just need to actually write the thing."

"I'll handle that," Amelia said. "If I'm scribe I can still act as an advisor while not being directly in charge."

John nodded.

"John, Erika, Selene," Raze said, all three turning to him. "There's something else. On the way here we met Kahn and a young girl vampire. We told them to wait outside."

"Cynthia!?" John said, eyes widening.

Raze shrugged. "Didn't ask her name." He turned to his second in command. "Go and get them. Bring them in here."

His subordinate nodded and hurried out of them room. As they waited, Amelia quickly and easily wrote down the specifics about the treaty. As they all finished signing, council and Amelia included, Kahn and Cynthia stepped into the room, Cynthia greeting John and Erika with a flying hug. John laughed, hugging her back as Erika did the same.

"Hey, we missed you!" John smiled. "Hello Kahn. How've you been?"

"Okay," Kahn said. "So, I see you finally got your treaty."

"Yeah," John said, Cynthia now held in his arms, sitting on his hip. "Finally. We'll be sticking around here for a while. Go figure, but I'm one of the elders now."

"Figures," Kahn snorted. "I'll get to work making food tomorrow."

John nodded and Kahn left the room with Alexia, who volunteered to show him around.

* * *

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	19. Chapter 19

I do not own Underworld or any of the characters.

* * *

Joy

John smiled as he watched Alexia and Kahn working. She had learned to make cloned blood so she could help him, and since then, the two of them had grown close. He watched as Alexia "accidentally" bumped into Kahn, making him spill some water on his hand, which he then proceeded to wipe onto her face, making her shout in surprise and splash him. He chuckled to himself as Selene leaned against the railing beside him.

"You think they're having sex yet?" Selene asked.

"No," John said. "I've seen Alexia when she was sleeping with a guy. She doesn't flirt like that. She teases. This I haven't seen before. I think she actually might be falling for him."

"Good for her," Selene smiled. "He'll be good to her."

"Maybe she can keep him under control too," John said.

"Come on now, let's keep our hopes realistic," Selene laughed.

John chuckled as well, nodding. "How are you?"

Selene's smile faded slightly and she sighed. "It's rough. I didn't exactly find out in a pleasant way."

" _Is_ there a pleasant way to find out about that?" John asked.

"I guess not," Selene said. "Where's Cynthia?"

"She's playing with the other kids," John smiled. "Turns out David's a pretty good babysitter."

"Yes," Selene agreed, a small smile spreading on her face. "He is quite good with children, isn't he?"

"Any news on the other covens that have had to let lycans in?" John asked.

"Apparently, they all agreed fairly easily, since it was Amelia that went with them," Selene said. "I haven't heard of any fights breaking out so far, so I assume it's going decently."

"That's good," John nodded, watching as a door off to the side opened and Varga walked in, only to pause, watching Alexia for several seconds before glancing up at John and continuing out of the room through a different door. "Are you sure I can't have the Death Dealer recruits use him for target practice?"

"Be nice John," Selene said. "As much as we all hate him, he _is_ useful."

"Barely," John said. "We could easily do his job ourselves."

"Considering his job is currently to clean all of he toilets in the castle, yes, we could," Selene agreed. "But we don't want to."

"I meant his real job, not his punishment job," John said. "We can handle defending this coven."

"Yes, but imagine how much better protected it'll be when we use him as a meat shield," Selene said, pushing off of the railing.

John grinned, following. "This is true. And if this place ever magically gets captured by humans, we can just have him pretend he's in charge and they'll kill him for me. He definitely has a big enough stick up his ass for the role."

Selene laughed just as a Nordic Vampire, one of the handful Lena had kept with her when the rest headed home, ran over, stopping in front of them.

"Lord Elder, it's time," the vampire said before sprinting away.

"Didn't I say not to...call...me..." his eyes widened before he turned, sprinting after the vampire, Selene grinning and running to Kahn and Alexia to deliver the good news.

John burst through the doors and ran to Erika's side, kneeling beside the bed and taking her hand, grimacing as she almost instantly crushed his. He grit his teeth, kissing the back of her hand as the doctor from the nordic vampire gave her instructions, John not even beginning to pay any attention to him.

"I want it to be Annabelle if it's a girl," Erika said, squeezing his hand tighter and gritting her teeth in pain. "Jacoby for a boy."

"Those are beautiful names," James smiled, kissing her forehead. "I think that's perfect."

Erika smiled then screamed as she pushed. As she did, John grit his teeth, feeling what few bones in his hand weren't crushed being turned into powder. After a few more rounds of pushing and crushing John's hand, a shrill wail finally filled the room and Erika smiled, laughing as tears ran down her cheeks, the doctor lifting up their child and wapping it to her.

"It's a girl," the doctor said.

"Hello Annabelle," Erika smiled, cradling her. "I'm your mommy. And this is your daddy."

She turned Erika toward John slightly and Annabelle's eyes opened, Annabelle yawning before smiling and reaching up toward him. John smiled, holding his index and pinky out, Annabelle holding them and smiling, making a happy screeching noise. John smiled as Erika held Annabelle against her again, Annabelle releasing John's pinky in favor of pulling some of Erika's hair into her mouth. John smiled.

"I don't suppose anyone in this coven happens to have baby clothes, a crib, and diapers," John said.

"No," the doctor laughed. "I'll have someone go and buy some."

"It's alright," John said. "I'll handle it."

"Be careful," Erika said seriously.

"I will," John promised. "Of course, I'm not going anywhere for a while."

"Well it's a good thing that, unlike you, some of us prepare ahead of time," Alexia said, standing in the door. "There's diapers and a crib in your room. You're welcome. It's okay. You can kiss my boots some other time."

"Thank you," John smiled. "I knew I brought you back to life for some reason."

"Oh ouch," Alexia said. "That hurts."

John smiled and Alexia laughed. "Thank you Alexia."

Alexia smiled and nodded, leaving the two of them alone with Annabelle.

* * *

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